# President by right of age of the Bundestag

The President by right of age (Alterspräsident) is the longest-serving member of the German Bundestag (until 2017 the oldest by age).

## Role

The role of the President by right of age is defined in the standing rules of the Bundestag: Currently (since 2017), the position is held by the longest-serving member of parliament, with discontinuous terms of office being added together. If two members of parliament have been in office for the same length of time, age is decisive. Before a change to the standing rules in 2017, the position was held by the oldest member. He or she shall preside over the Bundestag, whenever the whole Presidium of the Bundestag (president and vice presidents) is vacant or incapacitated. This is usually the case during the opening session of each legislative term, over which the President by right of age presides until a President of the Bundestag has been elected and accepted the election. For this purpose, he is authorized to appoint temporary secretaries, who remain in office until the election of regular secretaries in a later session. Apart from the opening session, he or she shall also preside over the Bundestag at any given time, if both the President and all Vice Presidents are incapable of attending. However, this has never occurred, as of 2025.
It is common practice for the President by right of age to give the first speech of the new legislative period, in which he outlines what he considers to be important tasks for Parliament in the coming years.
There have been cases in which the longest-serving or oldest MP has declined to hold the position: Konrad Adenauer, for example, who was the oldest member of the Bundestag for many years, set the precedent of a sitting chancellor renouncing the dignity. In this case, according to standing rules, he is replaced by the MP who has served the second longest time (previously: the next oldest).

## List of Presidents by right of age of the Bundestag

| # | Name | member of parliament (since 2017) | Term of Office | Time in office | Parliamentary Group | Legislative periods | Notes |
| 1 | Paul Löbe (1875–1967) | | 7 September 1949 – 7 September 1953 | 4 years, 0 days | SPD | 1st | |
| 2 | Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) | | 6 October 1953 – 19 April 1967 | 13 years, 195 days | CDU/CSU | 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th | During the 2nd, 3rd and 4th legislative periods, Adenauer refrained from presiding over the opening session due to his position as Chancellor. In each case, the function was assumed by the next oldest member of parliament: In the 2nd and 3rd Bundestag this was Marie Elisabeth Lüders (FDP, 1878–1966) and in the 4th Bundestag Robert Pferdmenges (CDU/CSU, 1880–1962) |
| 3 | Arthur Enk (1894–1976) | | 19 April 1967 – 20 October 1969 | 2 years, 184 days | CDU/CSU | 5th | Enk became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Adenauer in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag |
| 4 | William Borm (1895–1987) | | 20 October 1969 – 13 December 1972 | 3 years, 54 days | FDP | 6th | |
| 5 | Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977) | | 13 December 1972 – 5 May 1977 | 4 years, 143 days | CDU/CSU | 7th, 8th | |
| 6 | Johann Baptist Gradl (1904–1988) | | 5 May 1977 – 4 November 1980 | 3 years, 183 days | CDU/CSU | 8th | Gradl became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Erhard in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag |
| 7 | Herbert Wehner (1906–1990) | | 4 November 1980 – 29 March 1983 | 2 years, 145 days | SPD | 9th | |
| 8 | Egon Franke (1913–1995) | | 29 March 1983 – 18 February 1987 | 3 years, 326 days | SPD | 10th | Franke refrained from presiding over the opening session of the 10th Bundestag as he was under investigation for embezzlement at the time (he was later acquitted). The function was assumed by the next oldest member of parliament, Willy Brandt (SPD, 1913–1992) |
| 9 | Willy Brandt (1913–1992) | | 18 February 1987 – 8 October 1992 | 5 years, 233 days | SPD | 11th, 12th | |
| 10 | Alfred Dregger (1920–2002) | | 8 October 1992 – 10 November 1994 | 2 years, 33 days | CDU/CSU | 12th | Dregger became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Brandt in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag |
| 11 | Stefan Heym (1913–2001) | | 10 November 1994 – 31 October 1995 | 355 days | PDS | 13th | |
| 12 | Alfred Dregger (1920–2002) | | 31 October 1995 – 26 October 1998 | 2 years, 360 days | CDU/CSU | 13th | Dregger became the oldest member of the Bundestag, as Heym had resigned his seat; he never presided over the Bundestag |
| 13 | Fred Gebhardt (1928–2000) | | 26 October 1998 – 16 August 2000 | 1 year, 295 days | PDS | 14th | |
| 14 | Hans-Eberhard Urbaniak (1929–2024) | | 16 August 2000 – 17 October 2002 | 2 years, 62 days | SPD | 14th | Urbaniak became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Gebhardt in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag |
| 15 | Otto Schily (born 1932) | | 17 October 2002 – 27 October 2009 | 7 years, 10 days | SPD | 15th, 16th | |
| 16 | Heinz Riesenhuber (born 1935) | | 27 October 2009 – 1 June 2017 | 7 years, 217 days | CDU/CSU | 17th, 18th | |
| 17 | Wolfgang Schäuble (1942–2023) | 1972–2023 | 1 June 2017 – 26 December 2023 | 6 years, 63 days | CDU/CSU | 18th, 19th, 20th | Schäuble technically became President by right of age towards the end of the 18th legislative session, after the standing rules were changed to make seniority the deciding factor. He refrained from presiding over the opening session of the 19th Bundestag as he stood for election as president of the Bundestag himself and did not want to preside over his own election. The function was assumed by the next longest-serving member of parliament, Hermann Otto Solms (FDP, 1980–2013 and 2017–2021) |
| 18 | Peter Ramsauer (born 1954) | since 1990 | since 26 December 2023 | 1 year, 67 days | CDU/CSU | 20th | Ramsauer became the longest serving member of parliament due to the death of Schäuble in the middle of the current legislative period; as yet, he has not presided over the Bundestag |
| 19 | Gregor Gysi (born 1948) | 1990–2002 and since 2005 | designated | | The Left | 21st | Gysi is the longest-serving member of parliament elected in the 2025 German federal election and is therefore the designated president by right of age for the 21st legislative term |

## Trivia

To date, 17 different people have held the status of oldest or (since 2017) longest-serving member of the Bundestag. Of these, ten have actually presided over the Bundestag in their capacity as President by right of age during an opening session, while seven have never had the opportunity to do so. Five times, another Member of Parliament presided over the Bundestag in an opening session as a substitute for the oldest/longest-serving member; in each case, this was the second oldest or second longest-serving member at the time.
Only one person presided over three opening sessions of the Bundestag:
* Willy Brandt (10th, 11th, 12th)
Four members managed to preside over two opening sessions:
* Marie Elisabeth Lüders (2nd, 3rd)
* Ludwig Erhard (7th, 8th)
* Otto Schily (15th, 16th)
* Heinz Riesenhuber (17th, 18th)
Nine members presided once over an opening session:
* Paul Löbe (1st)
* Robert Pferdmenges (4th)
* Konrad Adenauer (5th)
* William Borm (6th)
* Herbert Wehner (9th)
* Stefan Heym (13th)
* Fred Gebhardt (14th)
* Hermann Otto Solms (19th)
* Wolfgang Schäuble (20th)
Only one person has held both the positions of president of the Bundestag and president by right of age:
* Wolfgang Schäuble (longest serving member 2017–2023; president 2017–2021)