“Let’s be brave, because then we don’t have to be afraid of the future” Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of Germany.
A centre-left politician was elected to the position of the German presidency today.
In his acceptance speech, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, 61, said Germany should be an ‘anchor of hope’ while democratic institutions were under threat across the globe. ‘As the foundations are shaking elsewhere, we have to prop up those foundations even more strongly,’ he said.
The new president was elected by a parliamentary assembly made up of 1,260 MPs and representatives of Germany’s 16 states.
Steinmeier has previously called Trump a ‘hate preacher’ and criticised those who ‘make politics with fear’, he has also spoken out against right-wing populism and been openly critical of the methods of the ‘leave’ camp in the run-up to the Brexit vote.
Despite the role being largely ceremonial, past German presidents have acted as voices of moral authority in national and international conversations.
Mr Steinmeier begins his new job on 19 March. He previously came to the attention of the media when, in his role as Germany’s foreign minister, he refused to fist-bump Boris Johnson.
Go n-eirí leis.
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