Almost half of the members of the Berlin parliament are newcomers. 73 of the 158 people elected are entering the House of Representatives for the first time, according to a parliamentary database. The proportion of women increases slightly to 39 percent.
To date, Klara Schedlich (Greens) was the youngest MP. This will change with the new legislative period. At 22, Asya Senyüz from the Left Party is now the youngest member of the House of Representatives. Richard Gamp (23) from the CDU and Schedlich (26) follow. They are the only members of parliament who were born in 2000 or later, as the state returning officer announced. What are the new guys up to?
Asya Senyüz: The youngest in parliament
Asya Senyüz was narrowly defeated by Green Party candidate Martina Zander-Rade (29.4 percent) in her constituency in Tempelhof-Schöneberg with 27.2 percent, but entered the House of Representatives via her party's list. The 22-year-old will probably not be able to get started there at the beginning of the legislative period.
Senyüz writes on her Instagram account that she became seriously ill shortly after the election campaign began and spent months in the hospital. In November, Senyüz has to go to the hospital again, as she lets her followers know. “But I really hope that I will be fully resilient again by the end of the year.” According to the “Tagesspiegel” newsletter “Checkpoint,” the Berlin Left Youth Solid explained that Senyüz wanted to dedicate himself to “antimilitarism and Palestine solidarity.”
Richard Gamp speaks out against left-wing politics
CDU politician Richard Gamp hardly has anything in common with Green Party member Klara Schedlich other than the Reinickendorf constituency. He won that against Schedlich. Gamp describes himself as conservative and likes to speak out against left-wing politics on social media. On Instagram he expressed his sympathy for AfD leader Alice Weidel. Among other things, he said about her that she was “humanly, I think, completely fine.” Gamp said he would like to meet her for a debate.
The CDU MP sees a rejection of any cooperation with the AfD as problematic. “Parliamentary majorities must be based on content and basic political beliefs, not on firewalls. We need non-partisan discourse and a real debate on the matter,” he told the German Press Agency.
Gamp's core topics include security, education and housing policy. In view of the housing shortage in Berlin, he is in favor of building on the edge of Tempelhofer Feld - "at least," as he says: "I would rather have new apartments than a bird sanctuary."
If there is a red-green-red government in Berlin, Gamp fears “that left-wing radicalism and socialism will come to this city.” He wants to save money in the public service - but not in the police department. He criticizes youth work, which is often not efficient. It is more important to strengthen the clubs instead of hiring more social workers.
Gamp is also in favor of a term limit of two legislative periods and is open to extending this limit to parliamentarians. That means: After ten years it would be over for Berlin MPs. He thinks a “certain fluctuation” is right.
Gamp himself doesn't want to stay in politics forever anyway. In parallel to his mandate work, the 23-year-old wants to do a doctorate in constitutional law at Humboldt University and complete the second state examination. Gamp says he doesn't want to be a professional politician.
Klara Schedlich: At the age of 26, she had already experienced an entire legislative period
Despite being only 26 years old and the third-youngest MP, she is one of the most experienced members of parliament. Klara Schedlich entered the House of Representatives for the Greens for the first time in 2021. There the Berliner fought for the voting age from 16 at the state level: “That was my greatest success,” says Schedlich about the constitutional change in the last legislative period.
One of her core topics is feminist politics: “My biggest goal is always to encourage migrant women and young women to get involved. Because there are still too few of us.”
She is also committed to multilingualism in schools and wants to double the number of community schools where students learn together continuously for up to ten years. «I would like to make it clear that it is a valuable treasure to not only speak French. Turkish, Arabic and Bosnian are just as valuable.”
And then there is gambling and sports betting, which the young Berliner wants to declare war on. If she has her way, advertising should be banned and machines should be banned from restaurants. She doesn't want to shy away from the gambling lobby. “I’m always up for taking on the big and powerful if I have to.”
