Parliamentary Evening (2025)

Nursing and care, neurotechnology, social media: these topics were the focus of the German Ethics Council's Parliamentary Evening on 12 November 2025. The Council had invited members of the German Bundestag to an exchange for the 12th time. All parliamentary groups accepted the invitation.

In her welcoming address, President of the Bundestag Julia Klöckner emphasised the importance of the Ethics Council's work for democratic opinion-forming. “Reality is rarely black and white,” she said. “The Ethics Council questions simple answers and has the courage to address controversial issues. Its statements provide comprehensible arguments that enable us to make our own judgements. This is particularly valuable for us as members of parliament.” Closing her speech, Julia Klöckner called on the Ethics Council to look into the topic of “social media and young people”.

Ethics Council members Annette Riedel and Mark Schweda then presented the Council’s work on its current Opinion on long-term care, while Aldo Faisal and Eva Winkler outlined aspects of the work on the Opinion on neurotechnology. Both topics were met with keen interest by the members of parliament. They contributed valuable insights and questions in the course of a lively discussion. “The exchange with parliament is crucial for us,” Helmut Frister, Chairman of the German Ethics Council, said afterwards. “Today, we learned first-hand which questions and concerns are central to the members of parliament when it comes to long-term care and neurotechnology. Our sincere thanks for this open exchange and all the suggestions.”

The German Ethics Council has a statutory mandate to advise policy-makers on ethically controversial issues, particularly in the field of the life sciences. The next event with the Bundstag is a parliamentary orientation meeting on the opt-out solution for organ donation, which will take place in early 2026.

Please switch to the German version of this website for more information on the event.