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112-612: The Bundesrat legislates alongside the Bundestag . The Bundesrat consists of members appointed by state governments and the Bundestag consists of representatives directly elected by the German people. Certain laws and all constitutional changes need the consent of both houses. For its somewhat similar function, the Bundesrat is sometimes (controversially) described as an upper house of parliament along

224-468: A Land , not an individual member) and serve only as long as they are representing their state, not for a fixed period of time. Members of the Bundesrat (suffix "MdBR") do however enjoy the same immunity from prosecution that Members of the German Bundestag have. In addition, Members of the Bundesrat have unlimited access to sessions of the Bundestag (where they have their own benches to the left of

336-457: A mixed-member proportional representation system which combines first-past-the-post elected seats with a proportional party list to ensure its composition mirrors the national popular vote . Germany's parliament can only be dissolved by the President of Germany , and only after the chancellor failed to maintain the confidence of the parliament in a vote called for either by him or a majority of

448-634: A conference center. The Reichstag building was also occasionally used as a venue for sittings of the Bundestag and its committees and the Federal Convention , the body which elects the German federal president. However, the Soviets harshly protested against the use of the Reichstag building by institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany and tried to disturb the sittings by flying supersonic jets close to

560-474: A constituency vote (first vote) and a party list vote (second vote). Based solely on the first votes, 299 members are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting. The second votes are used to produce a proportional number of seats for parties, first in the states, and then on the federal level. Seats are allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method . If a party wins fewer constituency seats in

672-556: A former waterworks facility. In addition, owing to the city's legal status, citizens of West Berlin were unable to vote in elections to the Bundestag, and were instead represented by 22 non-voting delegates chosen by the House of Representatives , the city's legislature. The Bundeshaus in Bonn is the former parliament building of Germany. The sessions of the German Bundestag were held there from 1949 until its move to Berlin in 1999. Today it houses

784-505: A group if those parties did not run against each other in any German state during the election. Normally, all parties that surpassed the 5%-threshold build a fraction. The CDU and CSU have always formed a single united Fraktion (called CDU/CSU oder 'Union'), which is possible, as the CSU only runs in the state of Bavaria and the CDU only runs in the other 15 states. The size of a fraction determines

896-405: A new standard of democratic, rather than bureaucratic leadership. Other observers emphasize that different majorities in the two legislative bodies ensure that all legislation, when approved, has the support of a broad political spectrum, a particularly valuable attribute in the aftermath of unification, when consensus on critical policy decisions is vital. The formal representation of the states in

1008-715: A new version of legal regulations. Berlin, February 14, 1934. The Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler The Reich Minister of the Interior Frick In accordance with the emergency powers granted to it by the Enabling Act (23 March 1933), the Reich government (i.e., the Reich Chancellor and his cabinet) enacted the law without passage through the Reichstag and without obtaining the signature of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg . On

1120-570: A nominal role in national policy, so it made little sense to retain the Reichsrat . Hence, the next logical step in the relentless Nazi diminishment of the states was the elimination of the Reichsrat altogether. This to be accomplished by the Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat , which was drafted by Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick who also served as the presiding officer of the Reichsrat . Law on

1232-408: A pilot of the potential of internet petitions , a version of e-petitioner was produced for the Bundestag. This was a collaborative project involving The Scottish Parliament , International Teledemocracy Centre and the Bundestag 'Online Services Department'. The system was formally launched on 1 September 2005, and in 2008 the Bundestag moved to a new system based on its evaluation. The Bundestag

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1344-527: A state than its second votes would entitle it to, it receives additional seats from the relevant state list . Parties can file lists in every single state under certain conditions – for example, a fixed number of supporting signatures. Parties can receive second votes only in those states in which they have filed a state list. If a party, by winning single-member constituencies in one state, receives more seats than it would be entitled to according to its second vote share in that state (so-called overhang seats ),

1456-560: A system of checks and balances . Since the executive and legislative functions are closely intertwined in any parliamentary system, the Bundesrat ' s ability to revisit and slow down legislative processes is often seen as making up for that loss of separation. 52°30′33″N 13°22′53″E  /  52.50917°N 13.38139°E  / 52.50917; 13.38139 Bundestag Opposition (408) The Bundestag ( German: [ˈbʊndəstaːk] , "Federal Diet ")

1568-415: A veto, and used it to prop up the price of emissions certificates. Due to the opposition's veto threat, the government seeks prior approval of the opposition with veto power. If an agreement fails, the government tends to shelve laws to avoid appearing incapable of acting. This legislative self-restraint of the federal government shows up in empirical analysis of federal legislation. Consent laws constitute

1680-434: Is being considered. The Bundestag members are the only federal officials directly elected by the public; the Bundestag in turn elects the chancellor and, in addition, exercises oversight of the executive branch on issues of both substantive policy and routine administration. This check on executive power can be employed through binding legislation, public debates on government policy, investigations, and direct questioning of

1792-453: Is congruous with the one-year-term of the Presidium of the Bundesrat . The sessions have been counted continuously since the first session on 7 September 1949. The Bundesrat's 1000th session took place on 12 February 2021 and was opened with a speech by President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier . The historical predecessor of the Bundesrat was the Federal Convention (Confederate Diet) of

1904-416: Is elected for four years, and new elections must be held between 46 and 48 months after the beginning of its electoral term , unless the Bundestag is dissolved prematurely. Its term ends when the next Bundestag convenes, which must occur within 30 days of the election. Prior to 1976, there could be a period where one Bundestag had been dissolved and the next Bundestag could not be convened; during this period,

2016-518: Is headed by the Director, that reports to the President of the Bundestag. The Bundestag Administrations four departments are Parliament Service, Research, Information / Documentation and Central Affairs. The Bundestag Administration employs around 3,000 employees. Following the tradition of German diets , the Bundestag is subject to the principle of discontinuation , meaning that a newly elected Bundestag

2128-473: Is legally regarded to be a body and entity completely different from the previous Bundestag. This leads to the result that any motion, application or action submitted to the previous Bundestag, e.g. a bill referred to the Bundestag by the Federal Government, is regarded as void by non-decision (German terminology: " Die Sache fällt der Diskontinuität anheim "). Thus any bill that has not been decided upon by

2240-431: Is one of three constitutional bodies (along with the Bundestag and the federal government) that have the right of initiative for the legislative process. In addition, government legislative initiatives must be formally brought to the attention of the Bundesrat, which hast to respond to them with a statement. The bill can only be discussed in the Bundestag once this statement has been made (so the Bundesrat does not yet vote on

2352-425: Is possible that the state parliament installs a new state government because a new state coalition has formed. The number of votes a state is allocated is based on a form of degressive proportionality according to its population. This way, smaller states have more votes than a distribution proportional to the population would grant. The presence of the small city-states of Bremen , Hamburg , and Berlin prevents

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2464-434: Is responsible for the routine administration of the Bundestag, including its clerical and research activities. It consists of the chamber's president (usually elected from the largest Fraktion ) and vice presidents (one from each Fraktion ). Most of the legislative work in the Bundestag is the product of standing committees, which exist largely unchanged throughout one legislative period. The number of committees approximates

2576-551: Is the German federal parliament alongside the legally distinct body of the Bundesrat , which together function similar to a bicameral legislature while technically being two separate unicameral legislative entities. It is the only federal representative body directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany ( German : Grundgesetz , pronounced [ˈɡʁʊntɡəˌzɛt͡s] ) in 1949 as one of

2688-425: Is therefore the second-highest ranking administrator of Germany. The chancellor , albeit head of government , is only the third-highest ranking administrator and has to petition both the presidents he is subordinated to for certain procedures. The 20th German Bundestag is the most visited parliament in the world, as well as the largest elected legislative body in the world . The first body to be called Bundestag

2800-562: The Bundeshaus in Bonn, along with the Bundestag, at least most of the time. A wing of the Bundeshaus was specially built for the Bundesrat. In 2000, the Bundesrat moved to Berlin, as the Bundestag had done the year before. The Berlin seat of the Bundesrat is the former Prussian House of Lords building. The Bundesrat wing in Bonn is still used as a second seat. For the Federal Diet of 1815,

2912-469: The 1949 election . If a voter cast a first vote for a successful independent candidate or a successful candidate whose party failed to qualify for proportional representation, their second vote does not count toward proportional representation. However, it does count toward whether the elected party exceeds the 5% threshold. Parties representing recognized national minorities (currently Danes , Frisians , Sorbs , and Romani people ) are exempt from both

3024-464: The Fraktion , enforce party discipline and orchestrate the party's parliamentary activities. The members of each Fraktion are distributed among working groups focused on specific policy-related topics such as social policy, economics, and foreign policy. The Fraktion meets every Tuesday afternoon in the weeks in which the Bundestag is in session to consider legislation before the Bundestag and formulate

3136-484: The Landesvertretungen , which function basically as embassies of the states in the federal capital. Some observers claim that the opposing majorities lead to an increase in backroom politics, where small groups of high-tier leaders make all the important decisions and the Bundestag representatives have a choice only between agreeing with them or not getting anything done at all. The German " Federalism Commission "

3248-543: The Minister-Presidents of each of the states . This is fixed by the Königsteiner Abkommen, starting with the federated state with the largest population going down. The President of the Bundesrat convenes and chairs plenary sessions of the body and is formally responsible for representing Germany in matters of the Bundesrat. The president is aided by two Vice Presidents who play an advisory role and deputise in

3360-589: The Presidium . The council consists of the Bundestag leadership, together with the most senior representatives of each Fraktion , with the number of these representatives tied to the strength of the Parliamentary groups in the chamber. The council is the coordination hub, determining the daily legislative agenda and assigning committee chairpersons based on Parliamentary group representation. The council also serves as an important forum for interparty negotiations on specific legislation and procedural issues. The Presidium

3472-431: The Reichsrat of proposed legislation or administrative regulations and allow it to voice objections. The Reichsrat could also veto legislation that was passed by the Reichstag , and the veto only could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the Reichstag. After Adolf Hitler became Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933, he initiated the process of Gleichschaltung (coordination) to assume control of all aspects of

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3584-500: The Reichsrat . One need look no further than the Reichsrat action in passing the Enabling Act on the evening of 23 March 1933, where "proceedings only occupied a few minutes, unanimous approval being given without a debate" to see that it no longer served as an independent and deliberative legislative body but was now reduced to " rubber stamp " status. The states would not recover their national legislative function until May 1949 when

3696-475: The Reichstag in the form of a constitutional amendment, contained the following language in Article 4: "The Reich government may issue new constitutional laws." Thus, some have argued that the abolition of the Reichsrat by cabinet law may have adhered to the legal process then in place. A further counterargument advanced by historian Richard J. Evans noted that many of the state governments had been overthrown by

3808-647: The Reichstag building in Berlin. The Bundestag also operates in multiple new government buildings in Berlin around the neo-renaissance house and has its own police force (the Bundestagspolizei ), directly subordinated to the Bundestag Presidency . Since 2021, Bärbel Bas of the SPD is the president of the Bundestag , with as many as five vice presidents, one from each faction. The presidents and vice presidents of

3920-560: The Reichstag fire . After World War II, the Bundestag did not have own facilities to call home and had to convene in the Bundeshaus in Bonn together with the Bundesrat . 1953, the plenary chambers in the Bundeshaus had to be expanded and the Bundestag assembled in a radio building in Cologne. Until 1965, the Bundestag assembled in West Berlin for nine sessions. Seven sessions have been held in

4032-623: The SPD five, the AfD and the FDP three each, The Left and the Greens two each. Members of the opposition party can chair a significant number of standing committees (e.g. the budget committee is by tradition chaired by the biggest opposition party). These committees have either a small staff or no staff at all. The members of Bundestag and the presidium are supported by the Bundestag Administration. It

4144-652: The Technische Universität Berlin and two sessions in Berlin's Congress Hall in Tiergarten . The assemblies met severe protest from the communist side, the last session even interrupted by Soviet aircraft in supersonic low-altitude flight. 1971, the four occupying powers agree to not accept Bundestag assemblies in West Berlin anymore. The Bundestag assembled in the Old Waterworks Building in Bonn when

4256-466: The 1867 Bundesrat. It is a constitutional requirement. The delegates of a state are equal to each other in the Bundesrat, hence the minister president has no special rights compared to his ministers. But it is possible (and even customary) that one of the delegates (the Stimmführer , "leader of the votes"—normally the minister president) casts all votes of the respective state, even if the other members of

4368-492: The 20th Bundestag. Any Bundestag (even after a snap election) is considered dissolved only once a newly elected Bundestag has actually gathered in order to constitute itself (Article 39 sec. 1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law), which has to happen within 30 days of its election (Article 39 sec. 2 of the Basic Law). Thus, it may happen (and has happened) that the old Bundestag gathers and makes decisions even after

4480-557: The 5% threshold and the basic mandate clause, but normally only run in state elections. The only party that has been able to benefit from this provision so far on the federal level is the South Schleswig Voters' Association , which represents the minorities of Danes and Frisians in Schleswig-Holstein and managed to win a seat in 1949 and 2021 . The latest federal election was held on Sunday, 26 September 2021, to elect

4592-478: The Abolition of the Reichsrat. 14 February 1934. The Reich government has passed the following law, which is hereby promulgated: § 1 (1) The Reichsrat is dissolved. (2) The representation of the states at the Reich ceases to exist. § 2 (1) The participation of the Reichsrat in legislation and administration ceases. (2) Insofar as the Reichsrat was active independently, the responsible Reich Minister or

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4704-468: The Bundesrat becomes acting Federal President of Germany, in case that the office of the Federal President should be vacant. Because the Bundesrat is so much smaller than the Bundestag, it does not require the extensive organizational structure of the Bundestag. The Bundesrat typically schedules plenary sessions once a month for the purpose of voting on legislation prepared in committee. In comparison,

4816-621: The Bundesrat from having the rural and conservative bias of other similar legislative bodies biased in favor of small states. The allocation of votes is regulated by the German constitution ( Grundgesetz ). All of a state's votes are cast en bloc —either for, against, in abstention of a proposal. Each state is allocated at least three votes, and a maximum of six. States with more than By convention, SPD-led Länder are summarized as A-Länder , while those with governments led by CDU or CSU are called B-Länder . In contrast to many other legislative bodies,

4928-461: The Bundesrat is appointed by the state government. In contrast to most parliaments, the members of the Bundesrat do not have a free mandate and all members of a state delegation have to vote the same way in each vote. The Bundesrat is a continuous body and has no legislative periods. For organizational reasons, the Bundesrat structures its legislative calendar in years of business ( Geschäftsjahre ), beginning each year on 1 November. Each year of business

5040-475: The Bundesrat is different from other similar legislative bodies representing states (such as the Russian Federation Council or the U.S. Senate ). Bundesrat members are not elected—either by popular vote or by the state parliaments—but are delegated by the respective state government. They do not enjoy a free mandate (for example, most parliamentary privileges in the Bundesrat can be exercised only by

5152-452: The Bundesrat possess a de facto veto on legislation, as they can block the votes of 35 or more seats. During the 2021-2025 traffic light coalition, two of the three government parties held such a veto ( SPD and Greens , not the FDP ), as well as the opposition CDU/CSU , leading to a de facto four-way coalition. For the 16 years prior under chancellor Angela Merkel , the Greens held such

5264-479: The Bundestag and Bundesrat, which attempts to negotiate whether the bill can find the approval of both chambers with certain amendments. A version amended in this way must then be passed again by a majority in both chambers in order to become law. From 1894 to 1933, the Bundesrat/Reichsrat met in the same building as the Reichstag, today known as Reichstagsgebäude . After 1949, the Bundesrat gathered in

5376-470: The Bundestag conducts about fifty plenary sessions a year. The voting Bundesrat delegates themselves rarely attend committee sessions; instead, they delegate that responsibility to civil servants from their ministries, as allowed for in the Basic Law (art. 52,2). The delegates themselves tend to spend most of their time in their state capitals, rather than in the federal capital. The delegations are supported by

5488-423: The Bundestag considers the legislative function its most important responsibility, concentrating much of its energy on assessing and amending the government's legislative program. The committees (see below) play a prominent role in this process. Plenary sessions provide a forum for members to engage in public debate on legislative issues before them, but they tend to be well attended only when significant legislation

5600-514: The Bundestag decided to move from Bonn back to Berlin by a law which sets only the city of Berlin to be the home of the Bundestag, not the building. Informational notes Citations 52°31′07″N 13°22′34″E  /  52.51861°N 13.37611°E  / 52.51861; 13.37611 Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat The Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat ( German : Gesetz über die Aufhebung des Reichsrats )

5712-458: The Bundestag presidency, failing to do so in 17 votes of the house. The denial to affirm a vice president from the AfD is seen as a vote of no confidence and distrust of the house in the only faction observed by Germany's domestic intelligence agency . As the President of Germany is the head of state , while the Bundestag produces, oversees, and controls the government, the president of the Bundestag

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5824-588: The Bundestag transferred its powers to the Imperial Regent and was reactivated only in 1850/1851. Several other attempts to reform the Confederation involved retaining the Bundestag and adding a parliament and a court. One of these attempts, the proposed Reform Act of 1863, had introduced the term Bundesrath . With the dissolution of the Confederation in August 1866, the diet and the federal law ended. On 1 July 1867

5936-516: The Confederation and the empire). Two decades later, the current parliament building was erected. The Reichstag delegates were elected by direct and equal male suffrage (and not the three-class electoral system prevailing in Prussia until 1918). The Reichstag did not participate in the appointment of the chancellor until the parliamentary reforms of October 1918 . After the Revolution of November 1918 and

6048-535: The German Confederation (1815–1848, 1850/1851–1866). That Federal Convention consisted of the representatives of the member states. The first basic law (Bundesakte) of the German Confederation listed how many votes a member state had, for two different formations of the diet. The diet was the only organ – there was no division of powers. The diet was chaired by the Austrian representative. In the revolution of 1848

6160-622: The German government and society. The first steps involved seizing effective control of the state Landtage (parliaments) through the Provisional Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich (31 March 1933). The next step came with the Second Law on the Coordination of the States with the Reich (7 April 1933), which appointed a Reich Governor ( Reichsstatthalter ) in each state to oversee

6272-407: The German population and territory. Prussia was always underrepresented in the Bundesrat. The Reichsrat, as a first, had no fixed numbers of votes for the member states. Instead, it introduced the principle that the number depended on the actual number of inhabitants. Originally, states had one vote for every 1 million inhabitants. In 1921, this was reduced to 700,000 inhabitants per vote. No state

6384-529: The German states in national legislation. In reality, this was less significant than it may have seemed on the surface. Whereas the Reichsrat in the past had served as a check on the actions of the Reichstag in Weimar Germany, by 1934 this was no longer the case. Once the Nazis had secured control of the governments of the German states, they used this power to appoint their adherents as the state representatives to

6496-593: The International Congress Centre Bundeshaus Bonn and in the northern areas the branch office of the Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), which represents the Länder – the federated states. The southern areas became part of German offices for the United Nations in 2008. The former Reichstag building housed a history exhibition ( Fragen an die deutsche Geschichte ) and served occasionally as

6608-586: The Nazis under the Reichstag Fire Decree , and therefore "were not properly constituted or represented" when the Reichsrat gave its assent to the above laws. Needless to say, these constitutional points concerning the legitimacy of the law were never litigated by the Supreme Judicial Court in Nazi Germany. Enactment of the law abolished the Reichsrat and formally removed the participation of

6720-603: The North German Confederation was established as a confederal state . The Reichstag, elected by the North German men, was one legislative body. The other one was the Bundesrath (old spelling). This organ was expressly modelled after the old diet. When the Confederation was transformed and renamed Deutsches Reich (German Empire) in 1871, the Bundesrat kept its name. Whilst appointed by state governments just as today,

6832-783: The President of the Bundestag) and its committees and can address it at any time. The latter right was most famously used in 2002 by then-Hamburg Senator Ronald Schill , who gave an inflammatory speech that was widely denounced . Normally, a state delegation consists of the Minister-President (called Governing Mayor in Berlin, President of the Senate in Bremen and First Mayor in Hamburg) and other cabinet ministers (called senators in Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg). State cabinets may appoint as many delegates as

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6944-534: The Reichstag building: the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, Paul-Löbe-Haus and Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus . In 2005, a small aircraft crashed close to the German Parliament. It was then decided to ban private air traffic over Central Berlin. Together with the Bundesrat , the Bundestag is the legislative branch of the German political system . Although most legislation is initiated by the executive branch,

7056-619: The Reichstag met only rarely, usually at the Kroll Opera House to unanimously rubber-stamp the decisions of the government. It last convened on 26 April 1942. With the new constitution of 1949 , the Bundestag was established as the new West German parliament. Because West Berlin was not officially under the jurisdiction of the constitution, a legacy of the Cold War , the Bundestag met in Bonn in several different buildings, including (provisionally)

7168-571: The South German states joined in 1870/71, the revised federal constitutions allocated new votes for them. Bavaria had six votes, Württemberg four, Baden three, and (the whole of) Hesse-Darmstadt three. The total number went up to 58 votes, and in 1911, with three new votes for Alsace-Lorraine, to 61 votes. The Prussian votes remained 17. To put the Prussian votes in context: 80% of North Germans lived in Prussia, and after 1871, Prussia made up two thirds of

7280-436: The Weimar Republic (1919–1933) had considerably less influence, since it could only veto bills—and even then be overruled by the Reichstag . However, overruling the Reichsrat needed a majority of two-thirds in the Reichstag , which consisted of many parties differing in opinion. So, in most cases, bills vetoed by the Reichsrat failed due to the lack of unity among the Reichstag 's constituent parties. The Reichsrat

7392-442: The basic law (Bundesakte) established two different formations. In the Plenary, for the most important decisions, every state had at least one vote. The larger states Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hannover and Württemberg had each four votes, and the lesser states three or two. Of the 39 states, 25 had only one vote. The North German Confederation was a different entity from the German Confederation, but it can also be regarded as

7504-400: The beginning of the new electoral period must be brought up by the government again if it aims to uphold the motion, this procedure in effect delaying the passage of the bill. Furthermore, any newly elected Bundestag will have to freshly decide on the rules of procedure ( Geschäftsordnung ), which is done by a formal decision of taking over such rules from the preceding Bundestag by reference. If

7616-417: The brainchild of a long lasting reform debate within the German Confederation. The new Bundesrat even referred to the old diet in Article 6, when it redistributed the votes for each states. Prussia, originally with four votes, gained the votes of the states it had annexed in 1866, i.e. Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Holstein, Nassau, and Frankfurt, totaling 17 votes. The total number of votes in 1867 was 43 votes. When

7728-450: The building. Since 19 April 1999, the German parliament has again assembled in Berlin in its original Reichstag building, which was built in 1888 based on the plans of German architect Paul Wallot and underwent a significant renovation under the lead of British architect Lord Norman Foster . Parliamentary committees and subcommittees, public hearings and parliamentary group meetings take place in three auxiliary buildings, which surround

7840-419: The chancellor and their ministers, to each of which the parliament constituted mirroring committees for oversight ( Ausschüsse ). Setting the government budget is the parliament's primary privilege, for which to execute it assembles the largest and most important committee of the house. Opposed to most debates in the Bundestag focussing on a specific topic, budget bills from the committee are heavily debated in

7952-424: The chancellor or cabinet officials. For example, the Bundestag can conduct a question hour ( Fragestunde ), in which a government representative responds to a written question previously submitted by a member. Members can ask related questions during the question hour. The questions can concern anything from a major policy issue to a specific constituent's problem. Use of the question hour has increased markedly over

8064-526: The delegates of the original Bundesrat—as those of the Reichsrat—were usually high-ranking civil servants, not cabinet members. The original Bundesrat was very powerful; it had the right of legislative initiative and every bill (including the budget) needed its consent, equaling it to the popularly elected Reichstag . It could also, with the Emperor's agreement, dissolve the Reichstag. In the revolution of 1918,

8176-433: The delegates to the Bundesrat from any one state are required to cast the votes of the state as a single bloc (since the votes are not those of the respective delegate). The delegates are not independent members of the Bundesrat but instructed representatives of the federated states' governments. If the members of a delegation cast different votes then the entire vote of the respective state is invalid. This tradition stems from

8288-427: The delegation are present. In practice if the different parties that form a state government disagree in whether to vote for a proposal, the whole state delegation will abstain. Between 1949 and 1990, West Berlin was represented by four members, elected by its Senate , but owing to the city's ambiguous legal status , they did not have voting rights. Bundesrat seats Because coalition governments are common in

8400-421: The election of a new Bundestag that has not gathered in order to constitute itself. For example, elections to the 16th Bundestag took place on 18 September 2005, but the 15th Bundestag still convened after election day to make some decisions on German military engagement abroad, and was entitled to do so, as the newly elected 16th Bundestag did not convene for the first time until 18 October 2005. Also following

8512-499: The establishment of the Weimar Constitution , women were given the right to vote for (and serve in) the Reichstag, and the parliament could use the no-confidence vote to force the chancellor or any cabinet member to resign. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor and through the Reichstag Fire Decree , the Enabling Act of 1933 and the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, gained unlimited power. After this,

8624-493: The extent of its representation on committees, the time slots allotted for speaking, the number of committee chairs it can hold, and its representation in executive bodies of the Bundestag. The fractions, not the members, receive the bulk of government funding for legislative and administrative activities. The leadership of each fraction consists of a parliamentary party leader, several deputy leaders, and an executive committee. The leadership's major responsibilities are to represent

8736-515: The face of it, the law appeared to be a clear violation of the Enabling Act's Article 2 that specifically safeguarded the existence of the Reichsrat : "Laws enacted by the Reich Cabinet may deviate from the constitution as long as they do not affect the institutions of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat ." However, the subsequent Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich (30 January 1934), passed by

8848-406: The federal government, through the Bundesrat , provides an obvious forum for the coordination of policy between the states and the federal government. The need for such coordination, particularly given the specific, crucial needs of the eastern states, has become only more important. Supporters of the Bundesrat claim that the Bundesrat serves as a control mechanism on the Bundestag in the sense of

8960-493: The government administration. Perhaps most importantly, the Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich (30 January 1934) abolished the state Landtage and formally transferred the sovereignty of the states to the central Reich government. The states, though not eliminated, were no longer participating components in a federal system but mere administrative units of a highly centralized unitary state . At this point, they no longer had even

9072-437: The house. The Bundestag has several functions, among which a few are shared with the Bundesrat . It is the chief legislative body on the federal level, producing the federal government and its presiding chancellor . The individual states ( Bundesländer ) of Germany participate in the legislative process through the Bundesrat, a separate assembly sharing several privileges with the house. The Bundestag elects and oversees

9184-415: The legislative bodies of Germany. It is thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag . The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their electorate and their conscience. The minimum legal number of members of the Bundestag ( German : Mitglieder des Bundestages ) is 598; however, due to

9296-827: The lines of the United States Senate , the Canadian Senate , and the British House of Lords . The name "Bundesrat" was used by similar bodies in the North German Confederation (1867) and the German Empire (1871). The predecessor of the Bundesrat in the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was the Reichsrat . The political makeup of the Bundesrat is affected by changes in power in the states of Germany, and thus by elections in each state. Each state delegation in

9408-408: The majority of politically important laws, and one third overall. Originally from 1867 to 1918, the Bundesrat was chaired by the chancellor, although he was not a member and had no vote. This tradition was kept to a degree when since 1919 the Reichsrat still had to be chaired by a member of the imperial government (often the minister of the interior). Since 1949, the presidency rotates annually among

9520-608: The members of the 20th Bundestag. In several districts of Berlin the 2021 election was repeated due to irregularities. This changed the number of additional mandates of the Bundestag from 138 to 137, resulting in the FDP losing a seat. Parties that were only present between 1949 and 1957 The most important organisational structures within the Bundestag are 'fractions' ( Fraktionen ; sing. Fraktion ). A parliamentary fraction must consist of at least 5% of all members of parliament. Members of parliament from different parties may only join in

9632-429: The motion here, but it can significantly delay it). When the Bundestag has finally approved a bill, it is forwarded to the Bundesrat. There are two possibilities here: Under no circumstances can the Bundesrat amend a bill. However, in the case of ‘approval laws’ in particular, if the Bundesrat rejects a bill, the matter is often referred to the so-called mediation committee, a body made up of an equal number of members of

9744-400: The national level in order to avoid negative vote weight . To qualify for seats based on the party-list vote share, a party must either win three single-member constituencies via first votes (basic mandate clause) or exceed a threshold of 5% of the second votes nationwide. If a party only wins one or two single-member constituencies and fails to get at least 5% of the second votes, it keeps

9856-532: The national level. Reichsrat deputies were members or representatives of the state ministries, and were bound by the instructions of their respective state governments. States were represented in the Reichsrat on the basis of their population. While the Reichsrat was customarily referred to as the "upper chamber," it was actually not as powerful as the Reichstag . Its powers consisted more of delaying or blocking proposed legislation by withholding its required assent. Reich government ministers were required to inform

9968-472: The number of federal ministries, and the titles of each are roughly similar (e.g., defense, agriculture, and labor). There are, as of the current nineteenth Bundestag, 24 standing committees. The distribution of committee chairs and the membership of each committee reflect the relative strength of the various Parliamentary groups in the chamber. In the current nineteenth Bundestag, the CDU/CSU chaired ten committees,

10080-456: The old plenary chamber had to get broken down, and in the new plenary chamber for only a few years after Germany's reunification. The most distinctive assembly of the Bundestag outsite its regular chambers was on 4 October 1990, the day after German reunification . The Bundestag assembled inside the Reichstag building in Berlin for the first time after 57 years, and remote from its then-regular home in Bonn. Soon after this most memorable assembly,

10192-434: The other parties receive compensation seats. Owing to this provision, the Bundestag usually has more than 598 members. The 20th and current Bundestag, for example, has 735 seats: 598 regular seats and 137 overhang and compensation seats. Overhang seats are calculated at the state level, so many more seats are added to balance this out among the different states, adding more seats than would be needed to compensate for overhang at

10304-421: The parliament are elected by the members of the parliament from among their midst. Usually each faction's proposed candidate gets a simple affirmation for the office by a vote of the whole house, no matter whether the faction is governing or in opposition and regularly without distinction of person. The radical-right AfD is the first and only faction in the history of reunited Germany not being able to take seat in

10416-521: The party's position on it. Parties that do not hold 5% of the Bundestag-seats may be granted the status of a Gruppe ('group') in the Bundestag; this is decided case by case, as the rules of procedure do not state a fixed number of seats for this. This status entails some privileges which are in general less than those of a Fraktion . The Bundestag's executive bodies include the Council of Elders and

10528-495: The past forty years, with more than 20,000 questions being posed during the 1987–90 term. The opposition parties actively exercise their parliamentary right to scrutinize government actions. Constituent services also take place via the Petition Committee. In 2004, the Petition Committee received over 18,000 complaints from citizens and was able to negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution to more than half of them. In 2005, as

10640-560: The position determined by him in consultation with the Reich Minister of the Interior shall take its place. (3) The participation of persons authorized to the Reichsrat in corporations, courts and organs of any kind is withdrawn. § 3 The competent Reich ministers are authorized to make supplementary provisions in agreement with the Reich Minister of the Interior and to take into account the changes resulting from this law when promulgating

10752-563: The president's absence; the predecessor of the current President is first, his presumptive successor second Vice President. The three together make up the Bundesrat's executive committee. The President of the Bundesrat ("Bundesratspräsident"), is fourth in the order of precedence after the Federal President, the President of the Bundestag, the Chancellor and before the President of the Federal Constitutional Court . The President of

10864-488: The revolutionary organ Rat der Volksbeauftragten ("Council of People's Representatives") limited the power of the Bundesrat to its administrative functions. A Staatenausschuss (committee of states) accompanied the reform of Germany but had no official role in installing the new constitution. Under that Weimar Constitution , ratified on 11 August 1919, it was replaced by the Reichsrat (1919–1934). The Reichsrat of

10976-471: The rights of the Bundestag were exercised by a so-called "Permanent Committee". Germany uses the mixed-member proportional representation system, a system of proportional representation combined with elements of first-past-the-post voting . The Bundestag has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term; these seats are distributed between the sixteen German states in proportion to the states' population eligible to vote. Every elector has two votes:

11088-463: The single-member seat(s), but other parties that accomplish at least one of the two threshold conditions receive compensation seats. In the most recent example of this, during the 2002 election , the PDS won only 4.0% of the second votes nationwide, but won two constituencies in the state of Berlin . The same applies if an independent candidate wins a single-member constituency, which has not happened since

11200-416: The state has votes, and usually do, but may also send a single delegate to exercise all of the state's votes. All other ministers/senators are usually appointed as deputy delegates. In any case, the state has to cast its votes en bloc , i.e., without vote splitting. If Members of the Bundesrat from the same state vote differently, the entire votes of the state are counted as abstention. A famous example of this

11312-471: The states, states frequently choose to abstain if their coalition cannot agree on a position. Abstaining has the same effect as voting against a proposal, as every Bundesrat decision requires a majority of seats (i.e., 35) in favour, not just a majority of votes cast or a majority of delegates present. For laws which require explicit Bundesrat consent ( Zustimmungsgesetze , consent laws ) these abstentions mean that several political parties represented in

11424-458: The style of a review and general criticism on the government for the past year ( Generaldebatte ). The Bundestag also exclusively mandates about deployment, dispatch and assignments of the Bundeswehr , Germany's military. The commander-in-chief , which is the federal minister of defence , is obliged to and acting on behalf of the parliament ( Parlamentsarmee ). Since 1999, the Bundestag has met in

11536-406: The succeeding Bundestag convents with same or similar majorities like its predecessor, the parliament can decide to take over earlier initiatives of legislation in the same fashion to abbreviate the process, thus effectively breaking the principle of discontinuation by a pull. The discontinuation of the parliament is the reason why the four-year-long convent is numbered. The current convent is numbered

11648-400: The system of overhang and leveling seats the current 20th Bundestag has a total of 735 members, making it the largest Bundestag to date and the largest freely elected national parliamentary chamber in the world. The members of the Bundestag refer to their workplace as Hohes Haus, august house. The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens aged 18 and older. Elections use

11760-466: The tradition of German diets , the German Bundestag can legally convene on any location, domestic and foreign. The Reichstag plenary chamber is not determined by law as the location of the assembly, making it a facility of convenience. Bundestag's predecessor, the German Reichstag , convened in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, after the Reichstag with its then wooden interior and walls burned down in

11872-472: The very powerful Bundesrat of the empire and the relatively weak Reichsrat of the Weimar Republic. The Bundesrat now once again has the right of legislative initiative, but its absolute right of veto applies only to certain laws that directly affect the federal states; otherwise its vetos can be overruled by the Bundestag with an absolute majority. The latter also applies to the federal budget. The Bundesrat

11984-478: Was a measure enacted by the government of Nazi Germany on 14 February 1934 that abolished the second chamber of the German parliament. The Constitution of the Weimar Republic established a bicameral parliament consisting of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat . The Reichsrat (Reich Council) was the body by which the German federal states ( German : Länder ) participated in the formation of legislation at

12096-517: Was a very close vote in 2002 on a new immigration law by the Schröder government, when Deputy Minister-President of Brandenburg Jörg Schönbohm (CDU) cast a no vote and State Minister Alwin Ziel (SPD) cast a yes vote. As state elections are not coordinated across Germany and can occur at any time, the majority distributions in the Bundesrat can change after any such election. Even without a new state election, it

12208-490: Was abolished by the " Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat " on 14 February 1934, roughly a year after Hitler had come to power. With the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War and the adoption of the Basic Law as the new constitution, the chamber of states was re-established, again under the name 'Bundesrat'. The new Bundesrat, in terms of its power, occupies an intermediate position between

12320-568: Was allowed to have more than 40 percent of the votes. This was regarded as a clausula antiborussica , counterbalancing the dominant position of Prussia, which still contained roughly two-thirds of the German population. Also, since 1921, half of the Prussian votes were not cast by the Prussian state government but by the administrations of the Prussian provinces . For example, of the 63 votes in 1919, Prussia had 25 votes, Bavaria seven, and Saxony five. 12 states had only one vote each. The composition of

12432-637: Was in the German Confederation (called Deutscher Bund in German). It convened in Frankfurt am Main from 1816 to 1866. In English it is referred to as Federal Convention . With the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866 and the founding of the German Empire ( German Reich ) in 1871, the Reichstag was established as the German parliament in Berlin, which was the capital of the then Kingdom of Prussia (the largest and most influential state in both

12544-409: Was looking into this issue, among others. There have been frequent suggestions of replacing the Bundesrat with a US-style elected Senate, which would be elected at the same date as the Bundestag . This is hoped to increase the institution's popularity, reduce Land bureaucracy influence on legislation, make opposing majorities less likely, make the legislative process more transparent, and generally set

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