Word: bundestag
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Karsten Voigt, a Social Democrat and a senior member of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, says what is happening is a natural consequence of Germany's postwar development, and not something to be feared. "With the changes that have taken place, we have a stronger impact in whatever we do," he says. "It is not that we are being more assertive, but that even with continuity in our policies and behavior we have more influence. The apprehension felt by other countries will fade away in perhaps 10 or 15 years when people will see that a united Germany...
...right's ability to make noise far exceeds its power to win votes. Unification has actually undercut the electoral appeal of right-wing parties. The biggest, Die Republikaner, won 7.5% of the vote in West Berlin in 1989 but polled only 2.1% in the nationwide Bundestag elections in 1990. Its adherents have no seats in parliament or in any state legislatures. That could change if the rightists can find a charismatic leader; so far, it has none...
...renamed Party of Democratic Socialism, which espouses socialism but disavows communism, remains the largest political organization in the five eastern states even though it has a mere 17 votes in the 663-seat Bundestag. ) Dietmar Keller is one of only two members of the former government who are serving as P.D.S.deputies in the Bundestag. "I've never had it so good," he says of unification, but adds that representing a party with an unsavory past can sometimes be painful. "We are treated like criminals ((in the Bundestag))," he says, "as if we are responsible for everything that went wrong...
...settle the matter. A heated nationwide argument broke out about actually moving the government and its ministries from the somnolent little town on the Rhine -- whose only other major industry is a candy factory -- to the metropolis 375 miles farther east. In last week's deciding debate in the Bundestag, much of the discussion was about symbolism: Westward-facing Bonn vs. Berlin's periods of imperialism and Nazism. In the end, the issue turned on the promise to former East Germans that the capital would change. Berlin won the close vote...
...decision still provides for a partial compromise. The Chancellor's office, the Bundestag and key officials in the ministries will go to Berlin, but thousands of bureaucrats are to remain in Bonn. The transfer, which will cost more than $30 billion, will take 10 to 12 years...