Berlin, 08 December 2021: the Bundestag has assembled to elect the new Federal Chancellor.
Caretaker Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel also attends the Bundestag session, watching from the VIP gallery.
The first item on the agenda is the election of the new Federal Chancellor. Olaf Scholz is elected ninth Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
395 members of parliament vote for Scholz. Afterwards he is congratulated on his election, here by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck.
The election in the Bundestag is followed by a ceremony at Bellevue Palace.
A brief conversation with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Olaf Scholz then receives his certificate of appointment from the Federal President.
Back in the Bundestag, he is sworn in by Parliamentary President Bärbel Bas.
Olaf Scholz is the first cabinet member to take his place on the new government bench.
Afterwards, the new Federal Ministers gather at Bellevue Palace. They too are presented with their certificates of appointment.
The new Federal Cabinet consists of 16 ministers, eight women and eight men.
The new Federal Government poses for a group photograph for the first time.
Each of the new cabinet members finds their own way back to the Bundestag. The new Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Cem Özdemir opts to go by bicycle.
With all the new ministers sworn in, the government bench is now fully occupied.
In the afternoon, Angela Merkel officially hands over the Federal Chancellery and congratulates her successor.
“Take leadership of this agency and work with it to achieve the very best for our country,” she says to the new Federal Chancellor at the handover.