Counting to 316

The failed first ballot

One day after Bilger took office, Friedrich Merz failed to be elected chancellor in the first ballot, receiving 310 of 621 votes cast, six fewer than the 316 required. It was the first time a chancellor candidate had failed in a first ballot in the history of the Federal Republic. He was elected in a second ballot the same day.

No source consulted describes Bilger's personal role in the organisation of either ballot. In an interview reported in February 2026 he listed the chancellor's election in the second ballot among the occasions on which "the Union has always delivered".

The postponed election of three constitutional judges

In July 2025 the Bundestag was to elect three judges of the Federal Constitutional Court, each needing a two-thirds majority, which the coalition could only reach with opposition votes. On 8 July Bilger said the Union had no intention of approaching the Left Party or entering talks with it. Resistance then grew inside the CDU/CSU group against the SPD's nominee, the Potsdam law professor Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf.

On 11 July Bilger moved the CDU/CSU motion to take all three judge elections off that day's agenda and gave the reasons in the plenary. According to the Bundestag's report, he said the debate about Brosius-Gersdorf had "zum Teil jedes Maß verloren" ("in part lost all sense of proportion", translation), that the election of judges should not become the subject of a heated political dispute, and that candidates should be beyond professional doubt. The motion passed with the votes of the CDU/CSU, SPD, Greens and Left; the AfD voted against.

In diesen polarisierten Zeiten sollten Personalvorschläge für das Bundesverfassungsgericht nicht zusätzlich polarisieren. Als Unionsfraktion hätten wir die Brisanz früher erkennen müssen.

"In these polarised times, nominations for the Federal Constitutional Court should not polarise further. As the Union group, we should have recognised how explosive this was earlier." (translation)

Steffen Bilger, interview with the Stuttgarter Zeitung, 24 July 2025

In the same interview he called the episode "definitiv eine Belastung für die Koalition" ("definitely a burden on the coalition"), said "Wir als Union hätten anders agieren müssen" ("We as the Union should have acted differently") and that the coalition had not managed to find a solution capable of winning a majority before the vote. He rejected the idea that the chair alone was to blame: the decisions had been taken by the group leadership as a whole. Two days later the same paper quoted him as saying the accusations against Jens Spahn were "not fair".

Brosius-Gersdorf later withdrew. On 25 September 2025 the Bundestag elected Sigrid Emmenegger, Ann-Katrin Kaufhold and Günter Spinner at the second attempt. As a member of the Wahlausschuss, Bilger belonged to the committee that proposes such candidates; how individual members voted there is not public.

Debating time in budget week

At the start of the 2025 budget week Bilger defended an agreement among four groups to cut most debates from 90 to 75 minutes. According to the Bundestag's report he pointed out that the AfD had tabled only one amendment to the 2025 budget, that three-quarters of the budget year had already passed and that the Bundestag was sitting three weeks in a row; a shorter Friday gave MPs time for their constituencies and families. The AfD's motion against the shortened times failed.

The pensions package

The coalition's pensions package was opposed by the Junge Gruppe, the caucus of younger CDU/CSU MPs that Bilger himself had chaired from 2014 to 2018, which objected to its long-term costs for younger generations. On 15 October 2025 Bilger said "Die Junge Gruppe hat schon einen Punkt" ("The Junge Gruppe does have a point"), while adding that, as manager, he was not happy with how they had made it. A report of 2 December described Spahn and Bilger as having to fight for every vote from their own ranks; Bilger said "Vieles ist in Bewegung" ("a lot is in motion").

On 5 December 2025 the package passed with 318 yes votes, two more than the chancellor majority. Seven Union MPs voted against and two abstained.

The last week before the summer recess

At the last sitting before the 2026 summer recess, the official minutes record that a motion by the CDU/CSU and SPD groups to add the second and third readings of the reform of the Buildings Energy Act (Gebäudeenergiegesetz) to the agenda was adopted. This site could not confirm from the stenographic record who spoke to the motion or what was said. The bill was passed later that day by 323 votes to 271 in a recorded vote. Three weeks later he left the post.