Parliamentary groups come together - CDU with offer of talks

The new Saxon state parliament is taking shape. On Wednesday, the first parliamentary groups - CDU and SPD - will be constituted. In future, the CDU will be represented in parliament by 41 men and women and has four fewer MPs than at the beginning of the last legislature. One CDU member later left the parliamentary group. As in the last legislative period, the SPD will be represented by ten MPs.

The Green parliamentary group will be constituted on September 17. The parliamentary group's executive committee is also expected to be elected then. The Greens will now be represented by seven MPs, compared to twelve previously.

The Left Party does not want to form its parliamentary group until September 24. The late date is due to the fact that party leader Susanne Schaper begins her long-planned aid mission in Vietnam this Friday. The trained nurse has been working regularly in the Southeast Asian country for years. The Left Party now only has six MPs in the 8th Saxon state parliament, compared to 14 in the last legislative period.

Only the AfD and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which contested elections in Saxony for the first time and immediately sent 15 MPs to parliament, have seen any growth in their numbers. A date for the constitution of the parliamentary group is not yet known. The same applies to the AfD, which is represented by 40 instead of 38. Four AfD MPs left the parliamentary group during the election period.

CDU politician Marko Schiemann is now the longest-serving MP

After the retirement of state parliament president Matthias Rößler and his deputy Andrea Dombois (both CDU), there is now only one MP who has been a member of parliament without interruption since 1990. CDU politician Marko Schiemann from Bautzen is considered one of the fathers of the Saxon constitution. He was the CDU parliamentary group's legal policy spokesperson for a long time and was most recently responsible for Europe.

CDU offers talks to BSW, SPD and Greens

The CDU has meanwhile taken the first steps to sound out agreements with other parties for a governing coalition. The state executive agreed on Monday evening to offer talks to the BSW, the SPD and the Greens. The AfD and the Left Party will not be involved. Decisions of incompatibility apply to both parties. This officially rules out any cooperation.