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84-574: The EBA is the inspectorate and authorising body for the majority of German domestic, railway infrastructure companies that are owned by the government, referred to as federal railways ( Eisenbahnen des Bundes or EdB ), and for German and foreign railway transport operators in Germany. Non federally owned public railways and privately operated railways are under the supervision of the German states ( Bundesländer ), who can choose to transfer this responsibility to

168-424: A federal state , consists of sixteen states . Berlin , Hamburg and Bremen (with its seaport exclave , Bremerhaven ) are called Stadtstaaten (" city-states "), while the other thirteen states are called Flächenländer ("area states") and include Bavaria , Saxony , and Thuringia , which describe themselves as Freistaaten ("free states"). The Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany")

252-501: A more independent status, especially in Bavaria. However, it has no legal significance. All sixteen states are represented at the federal level in the Bundesrat (Federal Council), where their voting power depends on the size of their population. Germany is a federal , parliamentary , representative democratic republic . The German political system operates under a framework laid out in

336-522: A plan to divide the German Reich into 14 roughly equal-sized states. His proposal was turned down due to opposition of the states and concerns of the government. Article 18 of the constitution enabled a new delimitation of the German territory but set high hurdles: "Three fifth of the votes handed in, and at least the majority of the population are necessary to decide on the alteration of territory". In fact, until 1933 there were only four changes in

420-616: A referendum in the Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4) was abolished, which meant territorial revision was no longer possible against the will of the population affected by it. East Germany had originally consisted of five states (i.e., Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia). In 1952, these states were abolished and the East was divided into 14 administrative districts called Bezirke . Soviet -controlled East Berlin – despite officially having

504-427: A revision, the federal government had to include the proposal into its legislation. Then a referendum was required in each territory or part of a territory whose affiliation was to be changed (paragraph 3). The proposal should not take effect if within any of the affected territories a majority rejected the change. In this case, the bill had to be introduced again and after passing had to be confirmed by referendum in

588-429: Is referred to as "Land government" (Landesregierung) . Before 1 January 2000, Bavaria had a bicameral parliament, with a popularly elected Landtag , and a Senate made up of representatives of the state's major social and economic groups. The Senate was abolished following a referendum in 1998. The states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg are governed slightly differently from the other states. In each of those cities,

672-650: Is sometimes propagated by the richer states as a means to avoid or reduce fiscal transfers . In southwestern Germany, territorial revision seemed to be a top priority since the border between the French and American occupation zones was set along the Autobahn Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Ulm (today the A8 ). Article 118 stated "The division of the territory comprising Baden , Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern into Länder may be revised, without regard to

756-404: Is very common to use the term Bundesland (federated Land ). Officially this term Bundesland neither appears in the constitution of 1919 nor in the current one. Three Länder call themselves Freistaaten ("free states", an older German term for "republic"): Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (originally from 1919 and again since 1990), and Thuringia (since 1994). Of the 17 states at the end of

840-635: The Congress of Vienna (1815), 39 states formed the German Confederation . The Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War in which Prussia defeated Austria and forced Austria to remove itself from the affairs of the German states. Territorial boundaries were essentially redrawn as a result of military conflicts and interventions from the outside: from the Napoleonic Wars to

924-662: The Congress of Vienna , the number of territories decreased from about 300 to 39; in 1866 Prussia annexed the sovereign states of Hanover , Nassau , Hesse-Kassel , and the Free City of Frankfurt . Prussia and the other states in Northern and Central Germany united as a federal state , the North German Federation , on 1 July 1867. Four of the five southern German states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt) entered military alliances with Prussia but Austria did not. In

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1008-735: The Deutsche Mark was introduced as legal tender in the Saarland. Paragraph 6 of Article 29 stated that, if a petition was successful, a referendum should be held within three years. Since the deadline passed on 5 May 1958 without anything happening, the Hesse state government filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court in October 1958. The complaint was dismissed in July 1961 on

1092-580: The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, those four states joined the North German Federation which was consequently renamed to German Empire . The parliament and Federal Council decided to give the Prussian king the title of German Emperor (since 1 January 1871). The new German Empire included 25 states (three of them, Hanseatic cities) and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine . Within

1176-661: The Oder-Neisse line fell under either Polish or Soviet administration but attempts were made at least symbolically not to abandon sovereignty well into the 1960s. The former provinces of Farther Pomerania , East Prussia , Silesia and Posen-West Prussia fell under Polish administration with the Soviet Union taking the area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place. More than 8 million Germans had been expelled from these territories that had formed part of

1260-657: The Regierender Bürgermeister (governing mayor) in Berlin. The parliament for Berlin is called the Abgeordnetenhaus (House of Representatives), while Bremen and Hamburg both have a Bürgerschaft . The parliaments in the remaining 13 states are referred to as Landtag (State Parliament). The city-states of Berlin and Hamburg are subdivided into Districts . The City of Bremen consists of two urban districts : Bremen and Bremerhaven , which are not contiguous. In

1344-528: The Saarland  – which later received a special status – in the French zone; Mecklenburg(-Vorpommern) , Brandenburg , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , and Thuringia in the Soviet zone . No single state comprised more than 30% of either population or territory; this was intended to prevent any one state from being as dominant within Germany as Prussia had been in the past. Initially, only seven of

1428-553: The Weimar Republic , six still exist (though partly with different borders): The other 11 states of the Weimar Republic either merged into one another or were separated into smaller entities: Some territories bordering other states were annexed to the bordering state. Also, Prussia had exclaves that were surrounded by other states. These became part of their surrounding states. All states, except Bavaria , now have territory of

1512-582: The West German constitution thus applied to the entire German people . Article 23, which had allowed "any other parts of Germany" to join, was rephrased. It had been used in 1957 to reintegrate the Saar Protectorate as the Saarland into the Federal Republic, and this was used as a model for German reunification in 1990. The amended article now defines the participation of the Federal Council and

1596-544: The 16 German states in matters concerning the European Union . Article 29 was again modified and provided an option for the states to "revise the division of their existing territory or parts of their territory by agreement without regard to the provisions of paragraphs (2) through (7)". Article 118a was introduced into the Basic Law and provided the possibility for Berlin and Brandenburg to merge "without regard to

1680-528: The 1949 constitutional document known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). By calling the document the Grundgesetz , rather than Verfassung (constitution), the authors expressed the intention that it would be replaced by a true constitution once Germany was reunited as one state. Amendments to the Grundgesetz generally require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the parliament; the fundamental principles of

1764-560: The American states and regional governments in other federations without serious calls for territorial changes" in those other countries. Arthur B. Gunlicks summarizes the main arguments for boundary reform in Germany: "the German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation and pay for it from own source revenues. Too many Länder also make coordination among them and with

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1848-423: The American zone; Bavaria was also placed under American administration. In the French zone, Hohenzollern and the southern half of Württemberg were merged to form Württemberg-Hohenzollern . The southern half of Baden was established as South Baden on 1 December 1945. Freiburg was designated as the capital of South Baden; the former capital of Baden ( Karlsruhe ) was in the American zone. A constitution for Baden

1932-597: The Baden branch of the SPD - came second with 22.4%. Since the French military administration still held many key executive powers in Baden, a single-party government was not possible despite the CDU's absolute majority. Attempts to form an all-party government failed, owing to disagreements regarding the inclusion of the Communist party (KPD). Eventually, a grand coalition between the CDU and SPB

2016-621: The Baden parliament voted in favour of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and became a founding state of (West) Germany upon its formation on 23 May 1949. For the first year of its existence, South Baden was directly governed by the French military administration. After local elections in December 1946, the Badische Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei (BCSV) emerged as the strongest party and its leader, Leo Wohleb ,

2100-480: The Basic Law as a binding order. An expert commission was established, named after its chairman, the former Secretary of State Professor Werner Ernst. After two years of work, the experts delivered their report in 1973. It provided an alternative proposal for the two regions: the north and center-southwest. In the north, either a single new state consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony should be created (solution A) or two new states, one in

2184-525: The EBA (§ 5 Abs. 2 AEG). To date 11 states, with the exception of Berlin , Bremen , Hamburg , Hesse and Lower Saxony have chosen to do so. In such cases the EBA works under the direction of the states. Since 1 January 2007 the EBA has run the railway vehicle register for Germany in accordance with § 5 Abs. 1e of the General Railway Law ( Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz or AEG ) and

2268-583: The EBA was Horst Stuchly. His successor, Armin Keppel, retired in 2008. Keppel also led the Bundeseisenbahnvermögen in 2007. In 2009, a new president, Gerald Hörster, took up office. In 2019, German Centre for Rail Traffic Research was founded at the Federal Railway Agency. Approvals for old technology: New technology: States of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany , as

2352-548: The EU guidelines in §25a of the AEG and is therefore responsible for the issue of vehicle index and classification numbers. The EBA has a flat organisational structure. Over 300 employees work at its headquarters in Bonn on the core issues, and another 1,000 people carry out the operational work of inspections and authorisations, occasionally on the spot, in twelve branches at 15 locations. Also within

2436-583: The Federal Minister of the Interior by reference to the referendum of 1951. However, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that the rejection was unlawful: the population of Baden had the right to a new referendum because the one of 1951 had taken place under different rules from the ones provided for by article 29. In particular, the outcome of the 1951 referendum did not reflect

2520-399: The Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4). The reorganization should be completed within three years after the Basic Law had come into force (paragraph 6). Article 29 states that "the division of the federal territory into Länder may be revised to ensure that each Land be of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively". In their letter to Konrad Adenauer ,

2604-604: The Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. This was in contrast to the post-war development in Austria , where the national Bund ("federation") was constituted first, and then the individual states were carved out as units of that federal nation. The German use of the term Länder ("lands") dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919. Previously, the states of the German Empire had been called Staaten ("states"). Today, it

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2688-536: The Federal Territory must be revised (paragraph 1). Moreover, in territories or parts of territories whose affiliation with a Land had changed after 8 May 1945 without a referendum, people were allowed to petition for a revision of the current status within a year after the promulgation of the Basic Law (paragraph 2). If at least one tenth of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections were in favour of

2772-532: The French-occupied Saar Protectorate was returned and formed into the Saarland , the Federal Republic consisted of ten states, which are referred to as the " Old States " today. West Berlin was under the sovereignty of the Western Allies and neither a Western German state nor part of one. However, it was in many ways integrated with West Germany under a special status. A new delimitation of

2856-578: The German-speaking lands for centuries and which mostly did not have sizable Polish minorities before 1945. However, no attempts were made to establish new states in these territories, as they lay outside the jurisdiction of West Germany at that time. In 1948, the military governors of the three Western Allies handed over the so-called Frankfurt Documents to the minister-presidents in the Western occupation zones. Among other things, they recommended revising

2940-655: The Nazi regime via the Gleichschaltung process, as the states administratively were largely superseded by the Nazi Gau system . Three changes are of particular note: on 1 January 1934, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was united with neighbouring Mecklenburg-Strelitz ; and, by the Greater Hamburg Act ( Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz ) of 1937, the territory of the city-state was extended, while Lübeck lost its independence and became part of

3024-676: The Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein . During the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II , internal borders were redrawn by the Allied military governments. New states were established in all four zones of occupation: Bremen , Hesse , Württemberg-Baden , and Bavaria in the American zone ; Hamburg , Schleswig-Holstein , Lower Saxony , and North Rhine-Westphalia in the British zone ; Rhineland-Palatinate , Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern and

3108-454: The Saarland (solution C), the district of Germersheim would then become part of Baden-Württemberg. The other alternative was that the Palatinate (including the region of Worms ) could be merged with the Saarland and Baden-Württemberg, and the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate would then merge with Hesse (solution D). Both alternatives could be combined (AC, BC, AD, BD). At the same time,

3192-414: The Western Allies, viewed itself as part of the Federal Republic and was largely integrated and considered a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum , Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged into Baden-Württemberg . In 1957, the Saar Protectorate joined the Federal Republic as the state of Saarland . The next change occurred with German reunification in 1990, in which

3276-456: The affected states, the proposals were shelved. Public interest was limited or nonexistent. The referendum in Baden was held on 7 June 1970. 81.9% of voters decided for Baden to remain part of Baden-Württemberg, only 18.1% opted for the reconstitution of the old state of Baden . The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were held on 19 January 1975 (the percentages given are

3360-402: The borders that had been established during occupation. In the south west, it was undecided whether Baden and Württemberg should be re-established as separate states (with Württemberg absorbing Hohenzollern, since Prussia had been abolished) or merged to form a new state. In Baden, Wohleb was a strong opponent of a merger. In 1950, a referendum regarding the merger of the three south-western states

3444-579: The boundaries of the West German states in a way that none of them should be too large or too small in comparison with the others. As the premiers did not come to an agreement on this question, the Parliamentary Council was supposed to address this issue. Its provisions are reflected in Article ;29 of the Basic Law . There was a binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory:

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3528-454: The commission developed criteria for classifying the terms of Article 29 Paragraph 1. The capacity to perform functions effectively was considered most important, whereas regional, historical, and cultural ties were considered as hardly verifiable. To fulfill administrative duties adequately, a population of at least five million per state was considered as necessary. After a relatively brief discussion and mostly negative responses from

3612-616: The configuration of the German states: the 7  Thuringian states were merged in 1920, whereby Coburg opted for Bavaria , Pyrmont joined Prussia in 1922, and Waldeck did so in 1929. Any later plans to break up the dominating Prussia into smaller states failed because political circumstances were not favourable to state reforms. After the Nazi Party seized power in January 1933, the Länder were gradually abolished and reduced to provinces under

3696-471: The consent of the federal government (Article 32 of the Basic Law). Typical treaties relate to cultural relationships and economic affairs. Some states call themselves a " free state " ( Freistaat ). It is merely a historic synonym for "republic" and was a description used by most German states after the abolishment of monarchy after World War I . Today, Freistaat is associated emotionally with

3780-401: The constituent states have certain limited powers in this area: in matters that affect them directly, the states defend their interests at the federal level through the Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), and in areas where they have the legislative authority they have limited powers to conclude international treaties "with the consent of the federal government". It was the states that formed

3864-416: The constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity. Despite the original intention, the Grundgesetz remained in effect after the German reunification in 1990, with only minor amendments. The federal constitution stipulates that the structure of each Federated State's government must "conform to

3948-432: The constitution. An appeal against the decision was rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Constitutional Court. On 24 August 1976, the binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory was altered into a mere discretionary one. Paragraph 1 of Article 29 was rephrased, with the provision that any state had to be "of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively" put first. The option for

4032-464: The empire, 65% of the territory and 62% of the population belonged to the state of Prussia. After the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles , the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation. The debate on a new delimitation of the German territory started in 1919 as part of discussions about the new constitution. Hugo Preuss , the father of the Weimar Constitution , drafted

4116-622: The executive branch consists of a Senate of approximately eight, selected by the state's parliament; the senators carry out duties equivalent to those of the ministers in the larger states. The equivalent of the minister-president is the Senatspräsident (president of the senate), also commonly referred to as Bürgermeister (Mayor) in Bremen, the Erster Bürgermeister (first mayor) in Hamburg, and

4200-451: The federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the minister-president is then chosen by a majority vote among the Landtag ' s members. The minister-president is typically the head of the biggest party of a coalition. The minister-president appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of

4284-487: The federal territory has been discussed since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949 and even before. Committees and expert commissions advocated a reduction of the number of states; academics ( Werner Rutz , Meinhard Miegel , Adrian Ottnad , etc.) and politicians ( Walter Döring , Hans Apel , and others) made proposals – some of them far-reaching – for redrawing boundaries but hardly anything came of these public discussions. Territorial reform

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4368-412: The federation more complicated." But several proposals have failed so far; territorial reform remains a controversial topic in German politics and public perception. Federalism has a long tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states , numbering more than 300 in around 1796. The number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1814). After

4452-412: The federation. The states retain residual or exclusive legislative authority for all other areas, including culture, which in Germany includes not only topics such as the financial promotion of arts and sciences, but also most forms of education and job training (see Education in Germany ). Though international relations including international treaties are primarily the responsibility of the federal level,

4536-446: The five " New States " on 3 October 1990. The former district of East Berlin joined West Berlin to form the new state of Berlin. Henceforth, the 10 "old states" plus 5 "new states" plus the new state Berlin add up to current 16 states of Germany. After reunification, the constitution was amended to state that the citizens of the 16 states had successfully achieved the unity of Germany in free self-determination and that

4620-409: The former Free State of Prussia. Other former Prussian territories lying east of the rivers Neisse and Oder were lost in 1945 and are now part of Poland or Russia . They are Silesia (Upper and Lower), Pomerania, West Prussia-Posen, and East Prussia respectively. Possible boundary changes between states continue to be debated in Germany, in contrast to how there are "significant differences among

4704-861: The former so-called "special assets" of the Federal Republic of Germany - the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the Deutsche Reichsbahn - were reorganised into an operational division, the Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG), and two national authorities, the Federal Railway Office ( Eisenbahn-Bundesamt ) and Federal Railway Assets ( Bundeseisenbahnvermögen or BEV ), both subordinated to the Federal Ministry for Transport, Construction and Housing . A merger of these two authorities, originally planned for 2009, has currently foundered. The first president of

4788-576: The grounds that Article 29 had made the new delimitation of the federal territory an exclusively federal matter. At the same time, the Court reaffirmed the requirement for a territorial revision as a binding order to the relevant constitutional bodies. The grand coalition decided to settle the 1956 petitions by setting binding deadlines for the required referendums. The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were to be held by 31 March 1975, and

4872-399: The necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners voted in favour. Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany . According to the German constitution , some topics, such as foreign affairs and defence, are the exclusive responsibility of the federation (i.e., the federal level), while others fall under the shared authority of the states and

4956-428: The northeast consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and the northern part of Lower Saxony (from Cuxhaven to Lüchow-Dannenberg ) and one in the northwest consisting of Bremen and the rest of Lower Saxony (solution B). In the center and southwest, one alternative was that Rhineland-Palatinate (with the exception of the Germersheim district but including the Rhine-Neckar region) should be merged with Hesse and

5040-558: The other states there are the subdivisions below. The most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia is uniquely divided into two area associations ( Landschaftsverbände ), one for the Rhineland , and one for Westphalia - Lippe . This arrangement was meant to ease the friction caused by uniting the two culturally different regions into a single state after World War II . The Landschaftsverbände now have very little power. South Baden South Baden ( German : Südbaden ; French : Bade-du-Sud ), formed in December 1945 from

5124-421: The percentages of those eligible who voted in favour): The votes in Lower Saxony were successful as both proposals were supported by more than 25% of eligible voters. The Bundestag, however, decided that both Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe should remain part of Lower Saxony. The justification was that a reconstitution of the two former states would contradict the objectives of paragraph 1 of article 29 of

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5208-407: The pre-War states remained: Baden (in part), Bavaria (reduced in size), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse (enlarged), Saxony, and Thuringia. The states with hyphenated names, such as Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt, owed their existence to the occupation powers and were created out of mergers of former Prussian provinces and smaller states. Former German territory that lay east of

5292-425: The principles of republican, democratic, and social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28). Most of the states are governed by a cabinet led by a Ministerpräsident (minister-president), together with a unicameral legislative body known as the Landtag (State Diet ). The states are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of

5376-420: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the Länder concerned. If no agreement is reached, the revision shall be effected by a federal law, which shall provide for an advisory referendum." Since no agreement was reached, a referendum was held on 9 December 1951 in four different voting districts, three of which approved the merger ( South Baden refused but was overruled, as the result of total votes

5460-467: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the two Länder with the participation of their inhabitants who are entitled to vote". A state treaty between Berlin and Brandenburg was approved in both parliaments with the necessary two-thirds majority, but in a popular referendum of 5 May 1996, about 63% voted against the merger. The German states can conclude treaties with foreign countries in matters within their own sphere of competence and with

5544-469: The public support of Federal German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for the plan. The rejection of the plan by the Saarlanders was interpreted as support for the Saar to join the Federal Republic of Germany. On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join Germany, as provided by the German constitution. Saarland became part of Germany effective 1 January 1957. The Franco-Saarlander currency union ended on 6 July 1959, when

5628-413: The purview of the Federal Railway Office is the responsibility for investigating railway accidents. In addition, the EBA has also taken on the responsibility for the approval and oversight of maglev railways under the General Maglev Law ( Allgemeines Magnetschwebebahngesetz or AMbG'). Since 1 January 2006 the Federal Network Agency ( Bundesnetzagentur ) has been responsible for overseeing access to

5712-407: The railway infrastructure. Detailed regulations contain rules about the non-discriminatory access to railway infrastructure and the principles for granting rewards for the use of railway infrastructure under the Railway Infrastructure User Regulation ( Eisenbahninfrastruktur-Benutzungsverordnung or EIBV ). With effect from 1 January 1994, as part of the structural reformation of the German railways,

5796-474: The referendum and the resulting merger. The newly founded Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ( Bundesverfassungsgericht ) rejected a nullification of the referendum in 1951, after the judges' vote ended in a draw. In 1956, the court concluded that the referendum in (South) Baden was not accepted by the majority and should be repeated. The Baden-Württemberg government did not allow this repeat to take place until fourteen years later in 1970: eighteen years after

5880-432: The referendum in Baden was to be held by 30 June 1970. The threshold for a successful vote was set at one-quarter of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections. Paragraph 4 stated that the vote should be disregarded if it contradicted the objectives of paragraph 1. In his investiture address, given on 28 October 1969 in Bonn, Chancellor Willy Brandt proposed that the government would consider Article 29 of

5964-429: The same status as West Berlin – was declared East Germany's capital and its 15th district. The debate on territorial revision restarted shortly before German reunification . While academics (Rutz and others) and politicians (Gobrecht) suggested introducing only two, three, or four states in East Germany, legislation reconstituted the East German states in an arrangement similar to that which they had had before 1952, as

6048-534: The southern half of the former Republic of Baden , was a subdivision of the French occupation zone of post- World War II Germany. The state was later renamed to Baden (French: Bade ) and became a founding state of the Federal Republic of Germany ( West Germany , today simply Germany ) in 1949. In 1952, Baden became part of the modern German state of Baden-Württemberg . At the Yalta Conference in 1945, France

6132-458: The state's government. Like in other parliamentary systems, the legislature can dismiss or replace the minister-president after a successful no-confidence vote . The governments in Berlin , Bremen and Hamburg are referred to as " senates ". In the free states of Bavaria and Saxony , the government is referred to as "state government" (Staatsregierung) ; and in the other states, the government

6216-481: The territory of the former German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) became part of the Federal Republic, by accession of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-West Pomerania ( Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ), Saxony ( Sachsen ), Saxony-Anhalt ( Sachsen-Anhalt ), and Thuringia ( Thüringen ), and the reunification of West and East Berlin into a city state. A referendum in 1996 to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg failed to reach

6300-484: The three western military governors approved the Basic Law but suspended Article 29 until such time as a peace treaty should be concluded. Only the special arrangement for the southwest under Article 118 could enter into force. Upon its founding in 1949, West Germany thus had eleven states. These were reduced to nine in 1952 when three south-western states ( South Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern , and Württemberg-Baden ) merged to form Baden-Württemberg . From 1957, when

6384-423: The wishes of the majority of Baden's population. The two Palatine petitions (for a reintegration into Bavaria and integration into Baden-Württemberg) failed with 7.6% and 9.3%. Further requests for petitions (Lübeck, Geesthacht, Lindau, Achberg, and 62 Hessian communities) had already been rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Minister of the Interior or were withdrawn as in the case of Lindau. The rejection

6468-582: Was allocated an occupation zone for the administration of post-war Germany. The south-west of Germany – previously consisting of Baden , Württemberg and the Prussian province of Hohenzollern – was divided between France in the south and the United States in the north. The border between the two zones was set so that the Autobahn connecting Karlsruhe and Munich (today the A8 ) was completely contained within

6552-449: Was appointed by the French administration as president of the state secretariat. In April 1947, the BCSV became associated with the federal Christian Democratic Union (CDU), renaming itself to CDU Baden and was thus a predecessor of CDU Baden-Württemberg . On 24 July 1947 the first and only state elections were held in Baden, with Wohleb's CDU winning an absolute majority of 55.9%. The SPB -

6636-403: Was carried out. Within the pre-1945 borders of Baden, the merger was rejected and a restoration of Baden was elected. This vote in Baden was outweighed by the more populous Württemberg, where the merger was accepted. Following this referendum, the three south-west states were merged to form the modern German state of Baden-Württemberg on 25 April 1952. Various legal contests were mounted against

6720-632: Was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in the case of Lübeck. In the Paris Agreements of 23 October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland", under the auspices of the Western European Union (WEU), but on 23 October 1955 in the Saar Statute referendum the Saar electorate rejected this plan by 67.7% to 32.3% (out of a 96.5% turnout: 423,434 against, 201,975 for) despite

6804-666: Was created in 1949 through the unification of the three western zones previously under American, British, and French administration in the aftermath of World War II . Initially, the states of the Federal Republic were Baden (until 1952), Bavaria (in German: Bayern ), Bremen , Hamburg , Hesse ( Hessen ), Lower Saxony ( Niedersachsen ), North Rhine-Westphalia ( Nordrhein-Westfalen ), Rhineland-Palatinate ( Rheinland-Pfalz ), Schleswig-Holstein , Württemberg-Baden (until 1952), and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (until 1952). West Berlin , while still under occupation by

6888-411: Was decisive). On 25 April 1952, the three former states merged to form Baden-Württemberg. With the Paris Agreements in 1954, West Germany regained (limited) sovereignty. This triggered the start of the one-year period as set in paragraph 2 of Article 29. As a consequence, eight petitions for referendums were launched, six of which were successful: The last petition was originally rejected by

6972-435: Was enacted on 19 May 1947, whose preamble laid claim to this new state being the true successor of the old Baden: although most of its territory had only been part of Baden for the previous 150 years. To reinforce this claim, the constitution also adopted the pre-World War II Baden flag and coat of arms for the new state. The constitution also made it clear that the name of the state was "Baden" instead of "South Baden". In 1949,

7056-498: Was formed, with Wohleb as minister-president . After the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the end of French administration, single-party governments were again permitted and the coalition was no longer needed; from 1949 until 1952, Wohleb governed Baden at the head of a CDU-only government. With the end of military rule in West Germany, the three western powers requested that state leaders should re-examine and finalise

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