Frank-Walter Steinmeier: Germany's New President is Quite Aware of Armenia's Problems

• 02.13.2017, 22:27
•  Europe,  Info

Former German Foreign Minister, Social Democrat Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been elected as the President of Germany.

The President is elected by the Federal Council of Germany, which is composed of 630 members of the Bundestag and 630 representatives of federal lands. Typically, the assembly is convened once every 4 years to elect the head of the state in the historic building of Reichstag in Berlin.  931 people voted for Steinmeier's candidacy who needed only 631 votes to be elected.

Joachim Gauck, the incumbent president refused to nominate his candidacy, explaining that by his age.  He is now 77 years old. Gauck's term in office will end on March 17.

Steinmeier has been considered the main presidential candidate and the absolute favorite from the very beginning, not only because he had the support of the coalition, but also the Free Democratic opposition Party and the delegates of the "Greens" supported him and did not nominate their own candidates.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier was born in 1956, Detmold. After holding various political positions, he became the German Foreign Minister from 2005-2009 and then from 2013-2017.

The results of the survey conducted before the elections showed that more than half of Germans believed the country's former Foreign Minister Steinmeier would be a good leader. According to opinion polls 59% of Germans are of this opinion. While only 19% believe the opposite.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated the country's new president, and said that he is really strong politician who deserves being Germany's President.

Armenian President and the Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian also congratulated his former colleague on becoming the President of Germany.

Due to years of diplomatic experience, Steinmeier is quite familiar with our region, namely Armenia and its problems.

Having been in our country and holding many meetings with our officials, Steinmeier is really aware of all the regional conflicts, and for Armenia, there could be no better candidate for this position than Steinmeier.

On the other hand, though, Germany's president performs mainly representative functions, while the country's domestic and foreign policy issues are handled by the government which is led by the Chancellor.