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105-608: Peer Steinbrück (born 10 January 1947) is a German politician who was the Chancellor -candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the 2013 federal election . Steinbrück served as the eighth Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2002 to 2005, a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2016, and as Federal Minister of Finance in the first Cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2009. A graduate of

210-487: A motion of confidence ( Vertrauensfrage , literally "question of trust"), either combined with a legislative proposal or as a standalone vote. If such a vote fails, the chancellor may ask the president for the dissolution of the Bundestag ; they are however not bound to do so, and the president in turn is not bound to follow this request. The chancellor must appoint one of the cabinet ministers as vice chancellor (Article 69.1 Basic Law). The vice chancellor may deputise for

315-546: A "chancellor majority" of yes-votes. If the Bundestag is unable to elect a chancellor in these fourteen days, a final ballot is held on the very next day. Once again, candidates must be nominated by at least a quarter of all MPs. Candidates receiving a "chancellor majority" in this ballot are elected. Otherwise, it is up to the President of Germany either to appoint the candidate with the plurality of votes as Chancellor or to dissolve

420-467: A 2010 interview on German television, it appeared that Steinbrück, who had adopted a very critical stance of the shadow banking system , attributed characteristics of the private equity industry to hedge funds . In 2012, Steinbrück tabled a plan for sweeping financial regulation that he intended to be a main plank of his election platform. It included compelling banks to finance a €200 billion rescue fund, and splitting investment from retail banking. At

525-491: A department minister. The chancellor presided over the government, and he had to conduct business in accordance with given rules of procedure. In practice the Reich chancellor's power to determine political guidelines was limited by his own party as well as the other parties in the governing coalition. The Weimar chancellors were accordingly men whose strength lay in mediation rather than political initiative. Constitutionally, there

630-535: A direct attack on Steinbrück—that the primary " multiplier effect " that government spending programs were having was that of "multiplying the impact of the current German government's boneheadedness." During his time as German Finance Minister, Steinbrück repeatedly accused the United Kingdom of pandering to the City of London by hindering efforts to reform global financial markets. In 2009, Steinbrück opposed any plans by

735-658: A few days later. On 9 November 1918, Imperial Chancellor Prince Maximilian of Baden , handed over his office of chancellor to Friedrich Ebert . Ebert continued to serve as head of government during the three months between the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the end of the German Empire in November 1918, the beginning of the November 11, 1918 Armistice , and the first gathering behind the Western Front battle lines and trenches of

840-939: A lack of passion for Europe in the euro crisis because she was brought up in communist East Germany. In the run-up to the elections, he criticized Merkel's support for hardline austerity measures in indebted eurozone countries and reiterated his support for the euro, saying that its demise would "throw back European unification by 20 to 30 years" and result in currency appreciation that would "destroy any business." He also travelled to Greece for meetings with President Karolos Papoulias , Prime Minister Antonis Samaras , Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and PASOK chairman Evangelos Venizelos . On foreign policy issues, Steinbrück criticized Merkel for not joining Germany's allies in their military efforts against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi . Also, he promised he would radically curtail German arms exports to countries such as Saudi Arabia . In three stages from mid-May 2013, Steinbrück announced

945-533: A row over tax havens . In the wake of German investigations against the LGT Group of Liechtenstein in 2008, Steinbrück threatened that Germany would impose a levy on all fund transfers to the principality, in effect reinstating pre-1990s-style capital controls, if the country did not change its ways. Speaking to reporters in Paris after a conference on measures to combat tax avoidance , he said Switzerland deserved to be on

1050-508: A slew of criticism of his high earnings outside the Bundestag from Merkel's center-right coalition but also from the SPD's left wing and from anti-graft campaigners. The seat on ThyssenKrupp's board and all but four of the other 85 appointments and engagements listed for the time between 2009 and 2012 were in excess of 560,000 euros. Later in his campaign, Steinbrück canceled a speech at Bank Sarasin & Cie after Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that

1155-525: A strong monarchist, bureaucratic, and ultimately antiparliamentary component, as in the Prussian tradition of, for instance, Hardenberg . In both of these aspects, the executive of the earlier confederation, and then empire, as it was formed in 1867 and 1871, was deliberately different from the previous Imperial Ministry of the German revolutionary years of 1848–1849 , which had been led by a prime minister elected by

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1260-628: A tax haven "black list" being drawn up by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development because Swiss investment conditions encouraged some German taxpayers to commit fraud. He called on other European countries to "use the whip" on Switzerland over its tax havens, likening the Swiss to "Indians" running scared from the cavalry . His criticism of the Swiss banking secrecy caused some tensions between Germany and Switzerland. The German ambassador to Bern

1365-653: Is a former biology and politics teacher at a high school in Bonn. They have three children. Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany , officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany , is the head of the federal government of Germany , and the commander-in-chief of the German Armed Forces during wartime . The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads

1470-508: Is also used in Belgium to describe the head of government of a Belgian region or linguistic community , but not the head of the Belgian federal government who is referred to as the prime minister ( Dutch : eerste minister , French : premier ministre , German : Premierminister ). According to the Belgian constitution , the federal prime minister is appointed by the king, and approved by

1575-474: Is called "constructive motion of no confidence" ( konstruktives Misstrauensvotum ) and was created to avoid the situation that existed in the Weimar Republic, when it was easier to gather a parliament majority willing to remove a government in office than to find a majority capable of supporting a new stable government. In order to garner legislative support in the Bundestag , the chancellor can also ask for

1680-406: Is officially referred to as "minister-president", although the informal term "premier" is also frequently used. His responsibilities are defined in the constitution of 1848 as the voorzitter van de ministerraad ('chair of the council of ministers'). The title of minister-president has been in use since 1945 and officially added to the constitution in 1983. In Norway , Vidkun Quisling , head of

1785-574: Is seen as such within the German public, it is only the third highest office , following the head of state (the President of Germany ) and the President of the Bundestag , a position similar to the speaker of the federal parliament. Whichever major party ( CDU /CSU or SPD ) does not hold the chancellorship usually calls its leading candidate for the federal election "chancellor-candidate" ( Kanzlerkandidat ). The federal government ( Bundesregierung ) consists of

1890-639: Is the head of government . "Minister-President" in the Constitution of Latvia of February 15, 1922, arose when the German term Ministerpräsident (minister-president) was translated; the term ministru prezidents (literally 'president of ministers', in Latvian) was coined by the member of the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia , Latvian writer Kārlis Skalbe . In the Netherlands the prime minister

1995-522: The Bundespräsidium , (i.e. the Prussian king; since 1871 called German Emperor). The state secretaries ( Staatssekretäre ) were civil servants subordinate to the chancellor and similar to ministers. Besides his executive duties, the constitution gave the chancellor only one function: presiding over the German Empire's upper legislative chamber of the Bundesrat (Federal Council), the representative organ of

2100-427: The 2005 federal election four months later, after which Angela Merkel became Chancellor for the first time . After the 2005 federal election , SPD and CDU formed a Grand Coalition under the leadership of new Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Peer Steinbrück became finance minister of Germany in November 2005. He was charged with reducing Germany's budget deficit , curbing public debt and introducing changes in

2205-624: The 2009 elections , German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier included Steinbrück in his shadow cabinet of 10 women and eight men for the Social Democrats’ campaign to unseat incumbent Angela Merkel as chancellor. In a joint article in the Financial Times on 14 December 2010, Steinbrück and Steinmeier proposed to solve the European debt crisis with "a combination of a haircut for debt holders, debt guarantees for stable countries and

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2310-480: The Bundespräsidium , appointed him on 14 July 1867. Under the German Empire's constitution of 1 January 1871, the king had the additional title of Emperor. The constitution still called the chancellor, Bundeskanzler . This was changed a few months later in the new revised constitution of 16 April 1871 to Reichskanzler . Since the office remained the same, it was not necessary for Bismarck to be re-appointed. In

2415-659: The FDP . The office of Chancellor has a long history, stemming back to the Holy Roman Empire ( c. 900-1806), when the office of German arch chancellor was usually held by the Roman Catholic archbishops of Mainz . The title was, at times, used in several states of German-speaking Central Europe . The modern office of chancellor was established with the beginning of the North German Confederation in 1867, after

2520-594: The Federal Reserve , after the collapse of Amaranth Advisors , Steinbrück lobbied for the development of an internationally accepted "code of conduct" for the hedge fund industry, arguing that a "sizable number" of hedge funds "are not behaving properly." Steinbrück predicted in 2008, in the wake of Lehman Brothers ’s bankruptcy, that the United States’ days as a financial superpower were numbered. In December 2008 interview with Newsweek , he controversially attacked

2625-479: The G-20 major economies to limit the size of banks to avoid individual institutions wielding too much influence in future and posing a risk. At the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit , he supported a Dutch proposal to limit banking executives' bonuses to the level of their fixed annual salary. Also, he called for a global tax to be imposed on financial transactions in a bid to end what he derided as "binge-drinking" on markets. In

2730-483: The German Empire , First German Republic (Weimar Republic) , National Socialist Germany (Nazi Germany) , Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) / German Democratic Republic (East Germany) or the earlier North German Confederation of 1867–1871, then the current reunified, revived and expanded Federal Republic of Germany - nearly all of them with the title of Chancellor as the elected head of government. In

2835-512: The German Empire , the Reichskanzler (" Imperial Chancellor ") served both as the emperor's first minister and as presiding officer of the Bundesrat , the upper chamber of the German parliament. He was neither elected by nor responsible to parliament (the Reichstag ). Instead, the chancellor was appointed by the emperor. The federal level had four organs: Technically, the foreign ministers of

2940-580: The Imperial Chancellor . The title of Hungary's head of government in Hungarian is miniszterelnök which literally translated means "minister-president". However, because "prime minister" or "premier" is the more usual title in a parliamentary system for a head of government in English-speaking nations, miniszterelnök is almost always translated as "prime minister." The Minister president

3045-458: The National Assembly . In 1871, the concept of the federal chancellor was transferred to the executive of the newly formed German Empire, which now also contained the several South German states. Here too, the terms of "chancellor" and "federal agency" (as opposed to "ministry" or "government") suggested an (apparent) lower priority of the federal executive as compared to the governments of

3150-600: The Prussian Army 's decisive military victory in the brief Austro-Prussian War of 1866 over the rival Austrian Empire . The office began with the Confederation under which its prime creator / instigator Otto von Bismarck , (previously foreign minister, then Chancellor of the Kingdom of Prussia since 1862), became Bundeskanzler (meaning " Federal Chancellor ") in 1867. With the enlargement of this short-lived federal state to

3255-732: The Reunification of Germany following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War , and a newly expanded Federal Republic of Germany . Due to his administrative tasks, the head of the clerics at the chapel of an Kaiserpfalz during the Carolingian Empire (AD 800–887), beginning with first the king of the Franks , Charlemagne , was also called chancellor (from Latin : cancellarius ). The chapel's college acted as

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3360-505: The University of Kiel , Steinbrück began his political career in the office of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and became chief of staff to Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Rau , in 1986. Steinbrück served as a state minister in both Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia and succeeded Wolfgang Clement as Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2002. Governing in an SPD- Green coalition, Steinbrück's tenure

3465-547: The Vienna's Hofburg Palace , headed by a vice chancellor under the nominal authority of the Mainz archbishop. Upon the 1620 Battle of White Mountain , Emperor Ferdinand II created the office of an Archduchy of Austria court chancellor in charge of the internal and foreign affairs of the ruling dynasty of the Habsburg monarchy . From 1753 onwards, the office of an Austrian state chancellor

3570-708: The 2006 meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Singapore , Steinbrück argued that, as the world's third largest economy after the US and Japan, Germany must keep its influence in the IMF amid wide-ranging reform of the institution, ruling out suggestions that the Eurozone members should have only one seat on the board as part of the planned overhaul of IMF members' votes. Steinbrück has been labelled by

3675-476: The Basic Law can be divided into three phases: The process begins with the President of Germany proposing a candidate to the Bundestag (A formality, as they are usually a candidate on which majority parties have agreed to beforehand), who is then voted upon without debate ("1st voting phase"). If the nominee reaches the necessary "chancellor majority", the President of Germany will appoint him or her and, after that,

3780-447: The Basic Law sets forth three principles that define how the executive branch functions: Political party:     CDU     SPD The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag and formally appointed by the president of Germany. A chancellor's election is necessary whenever the office of Chancellor has fallen vacant. This is the case if a newly elected Bundestag meets for the first time, or during legislative periods, if

3885-488: The Basic Law, the chancellor may set the number of cabinet ministers and dictate their specific duties. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard had the largest cabinet, with 22 ministers, in the mid-1960s. Helmut Kohl presided over 17 ministers at the start of his fourth term in 1994; the 2002 cabinet, the second of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, had 13 ministers, and the Angela Merkel cabinet as of 22 November 2005 had 15. Article 65 of

3990-597: The British Keynesian approach to economic policy. He raised scepticism about the effectiveness of large fiscal stimulus packages and criticized the resulting increase in public debt. His comments led Steinbrück into a highly public press battle with Paul Krugman , the Nobel laureate economist and New York Times columnist. An adherent to Keynes' theory that government spending creates growth, Krugman wrote in December 2008—in

4095-469: The Bundesrat, Bismarck could effectively control the proceedings by making deals with the smaller states. The term chancellor signalled the seemingly low priority of this institution compared to the governments of the German states, because the new chancellor of the federal empire should not be a full-fledged prime minister, in contrast to the heads of the states. The title of chancellor additionally symbolized

4200-410: The Bundestag and call new elections. Another possibility to vote a new chancellor into office is the constructive vote of no confidence , which allows the Bundestag to replace a sitting chancellor, if it elects a new chancellor with the "chancellor-majority" (see below). As of 2023, all chancellors of the federal republic have been (re-)elected on proposal of the President and on the first ballot with

4305-516: The CDU, Steinbrück was appointed Minister of Finance. In this position, Steinbrück was charged with reducing Germany's budget deficit, curbing public debt, and introducing changes in the taxation system. In the 2009 federal election , SPD chancellor-candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier included Steinbrück as a member of his shadow cabinet . In 2012, the National Assembly of the SPD elected Steinbrück as

Peer Steinbrück - Misplaced Pages Continue

4410-645: The Committee on Foreign Affairs and as chairman of the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2013 until 2016. In March 2015, Steinbrück joined the Agency for Modernization of Ukraine , an initiative led by Dmitry Firtash to develop a comprehensive plan of political and economic reforms in the country. In September 2015, Steinbrück announced that he would not stand in the 2017 federal elections . He vacated his Bundestag seat in

4515-484: The Enabling Act to merge the office of chancellor with that of the president to create a new office, "the leader" (or Führer ). Although the offices were merged, Hitler continued to be addressed as " Führer und Reichskanzler " indicating that the head of state and head of government were still separate positions, albeit held by the same person, although the title of " Reichskanzler " was quietly dropped. This separation

4620-593: The Holy Roman Empire electing the King of the Romans . Already in mediaeval times, the German chancellor had political power like Archbishop Willigis (archchancellor 975–1011, regent for King Otto III (AD 991–994) or Rainald von Dassel (chancellor, 1156–1162 and 1166–1167), under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . In 1559, Emperor Ferdinand I established the agency of an imperial chancellery ( Reichshofkanzlei ) at

4725-528: The Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure in 1998 and Finance Minister in 2000. From 2002 to 2005 Steinbrück served as the eighth Minister President ( Ministerpräsident or governor) of North Rhine-Westphalia . He headed a coalition government between the SPD and the Green Party . In December 2002, Steinbrück accompanied Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on a visit to China for meetings with President of

4830-472: The Napoleonic Wars and the peace-making Congress of Vienna did not have a government or parliament, only the single-chamber legislature Bundestag as representative organ of the various German states in the 51 year old Confederation. The role of the chancellor has varied during the different eras. From 1867 to 1918, the chancellor was the only responsible minister at the federal level. He was appointed by

4935-643: The People's Deputies , to attempt to govern Germany in the crisis aftermath of the war reversals and seek an armistice / peace with the attacking / invading Allies of World War I , which was attained in the Armistice of 11 November 1918 on the Western Front in occupied northern France and Belgium . Following the defeat of the 1918 German Empire in the First World War , a new post-war democratic republic government

5040-621: The People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji . In 2003, Steinbrück and Roland Koch , the Christian Democrat premier of Hesse, together drew up a plan to reduce tax breaks and subsidies , including those on coal. The subsidies were a particularly sensitive issue in North Rhine-Westphalia, where most of the coal mines were located then. Nevertheless, Steinbrück and Koch agreed that all subsidies were to be reduced by 12 percent over several years. Steinbrück

5145-483: The President of the Bundestag will administer the oath of office before the assembled house. If this nominee is not elected, the right of nomination is transferred onto the Bundestag: Candidates can now be nominated for election, whereby a nomination must be supported by at least a quarter of all MPs. The Bundestag can hold any number of ballots in this manner for two weeks. To be elected, a candidate still needs

5250-498: The Reich President was forced to ask Adolf Hitler, to become Chancellor of Germany. Subsequently, the 1919 Weimar Constitution was de facto set aside. After the death of elderly German Reich President Paul von Hindenburg the following year in 1934, Adolf Hitler, the dictatorial party leader, also then took over the powers of the president. The new official title became Führer und Reichskanzler (meaning "Leader and Chancellor of

5355-461: The Reich"). The 1949 constitution gave the chancellor much greater powers than during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s and early 1930s, while strongly diminishing the role of the federal president. Germany is today often referred to as a "chancellor democracy", reflecting the role of the chancellor as the country's chief executive. Since 1867, 33 people have served as heads of government of

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5460-572: The Reichstag before he made ministerial appointments. Based on these talks, the president would get a sense of which potential chancellor would be able to build a stable majority in the Reichstag. According to the sense of the Weimar Constitution, the president was thus to have the initiative. The task of putting together the Reich government was nevertheless the responsibility of the chancellor. The president could not appoint anyone as minister whom

5565-402: The Reichstag could also impeach the chancellor as well as the ministers and the president before the State Court for the German Reich ( Staatsgerichtshof für das Deutsche Reich ), the Weimar Republic's constitutional court. Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933 by Paul von Hindenburg . On taking office, Hitler immediately began accumulating power and changing

5670-509: The SPD was defeated by Merkel's CDU in the federal election which took place on 22 September 2013. Steinbrück was born in Hamburg , on 10 January 1947, to Ilse (née Schaper; 1919–2011) and Ernst Steinbrück (1914–1998), an architect born in Danzig . After having been trained as an officer of the reserve of the Bundeswehr , Steinbrück studied economics at the University of Kiel . He graduated in 1974. After graduation Steinbrück worked for several German ministries and, from 1978 to 1981, in

5775-492: The Senate ( Bürgermeister und Präsident des Senates ). On the federal level, the head of the federal government (with an effectively identical function as leader of the cabinet) is called the Chancellor or Federal Chancellor ( Kanzler or Bundeskanzler ). The positions of Minister-president in the German states (during the monarchy days) were mostly established in response to the 1848 German revolutions . The Minister-President of Prussia usually served simultaneously as

5880-423: The Swiss private bank was being investigated by German prosecutors for possible tax evasion . Soon after, he declared he had earned 1.25 million euros ($ 1.6 million) by giving 89 speeches between 2009 and 2012 at companies and banks including Deutsche Bank , JPMorgan Chase , BNP Paribas , Sal. Oppenheim , Union Investment , Ernst & Young , Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Baker & McKenzie . This sum

5985-433: The abdication of the emperor / kaiser Wilhelm II of the Hohenzollern dynasty , who then left Germany with his family for exile in the neighboring Kingdom of the Netherlands . Although he lacked the constitutional authority, the last imperial chancellor handed over his office to Friedrich Ebert , (leader of the anti-war Social Democratic Party who the next day became co-chairman of the temporary revolutionary Council of

6090-572: The anti-establishment party of commentator and comedian Beppe Grillo surged to about one fourth of valid votes. In reaction, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano cancelled a dinner in Berlin with Steinbrück, who was German opposition's chancellor candidate. In May 2021, Danish state broadcaster DR reported that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) used a partnership with the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) to spy on Steinbrück and other senior officials in Germany, including Chancellor Angela Merkel. Steinbrück's wife, Gertrud (born 1950),

6195-425: The case of his win. Although Steinbrück soon won the endorsement of former Chancellors Gerhard Schröder and Helmut Schmidt , his gaffe-prone campaign never gained traction against the popular Merkel. His previously established reputation as a crisis manager who had played a frontline role in fighting the global financial crisis was overshadowed by faux pas throughout the campaign. He clashed with Sigmar Gabriel ,

6300-503: The chairmanship of the SPD in 2004. The first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer , set many precedents that continue today and established the chancellorship as the clear focus of power in Germany. Under the provisions of the Basic Law giving him the power to set guidelines for all fields of policy, Adenauer arrogated nearly all major decisions to himself. He often treated his ministers as mere extensions of his authority rather than colleagues. While his successors have tended to be less domineering,

6405-461: The chancellor and cabinet ministers. The chancellor's authority emanates from the provisions of the Basic Law and in practice from their status as leader of the party (or coalition of parties) holding a majority of seats in the Bundestag (federal parliament). With the exception of Helmut Schmidt and Olaf Scholz , the chancellor has also been chairman of their own party. This was the case with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 1999 until he resigned

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6510-440: The chancellor had not proposed. The chancellor alone had to answer to the Reichstag and the president for the policy guidelines, and he determined whether the conduct of business by the individual Reich ministries conformed to the guidelines. The government's decisions required a majority vote of the ministers, who sitting together were known as the National Ministry (Article 58). The chancellor could therefore be outvoted, as could

6615-419: The chancellor has acquired enough ex officio authority (in addition to their constitutional powers) that Germany is often described by constitutional law experts as a "chancellor democracy". The chancellor determines the composition of the Federal Cabinet . The president formally appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers, on the recommendation of the chancellor; no parliamentary approval is needed. According to

6720-465: The chancellor, if they are absent or unable to perform their duties. Although the chancellor is theoretically free to choose any cabinet minister, in coalition governments the leadership of the second biggest coalition party usually designates one of their ministers for the position, whom the chancellor appoints accordingly. Minister President In English-speaking countries, similar institutions may be called premiers or first ministers (typically at

6825-521: The chancellor-candidate of the SPD for the 2013 federal election . After he was nominated, controversy surrounding Steinbrück history of giving paid speeches to private banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank , as well as the potential conflict of interest surrounding his seat on the board of steel conglomerate Thyssenkrupp , prompted criticism from both centre-right members of Angela Merkel's coalition as well as members of SPD's left-wing. Steinbrück's gaffe-prone campaign failed to gain traction, and

6930-499: The emperor's chancery issuing deeds and capitularies . From the days of Louis the German , the Roman Catholic archbishop of Mainz was ex officio German archchancellor , a position he held until the end of the 900 year old Holy Roman Empire decreed by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars in 1806; de jure . the archbishop of Cologne was chancellor of Italy and the archbishop of Trier of Burgundy . These three prince-archbishops were also prince-electors of

7035-436: The empire's states instructed their states' deputies to the Bundesrat and therefore outranked the chancellor. For this reason, Prince Bismarck (as he was from 1871 onwards) continued to serve as both minister president and foreign minister of the Kingdom of Prussia for virtually his entire tenure as chancellor of the empire (1871–1890), since he wanted to continue to exercise the power. Because Prussia controlled seventeen votes in

7140-439: The end of September 2016. In 2018, he wrote a book titled Das Elend der Sozial-demokratie. Anmerkungen eines Genossen. , which explored the reasons why the SPD always lost elections from an insider's perspective. Steinbrück has been a prominent speaker for the SPD, especially on economic matters. During a 2007 visit to Washington for meetings with the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Ben S. Bernanke , chairman of

7245-410: The executive branch. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the federal president and without debate (Article 63 of the German Constitution ). The current officeholder is Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party , who was elected in December 2021, succeeding Angela Merkel . He was elected after the SPD entered into a coalition agreement with Alliance 90/The Greens and

7350-477: The federal parliament with a vote of confidence (in practice the king usually appoints the leader of the winning party as formateur to form a government). The federal ministers later swear an oath of allegiance to the king. The minister-presidents of the regions and linguistic communities are not appointed by the king, but are directly appointed by their respective parliament. Ministers of the regions and linguistic communities are not required to swear allegiance to

7455-403: The federal states. For this reason, neither the chancellor nor the leaders of the imperial departments under his command used the title of Minister until 1918. The constitution of the German Empire was reformed / altered on 29 October 1918 , when the parliament Reichstag and Bundesrat was given the right to dismiss the chancellor. However, the change could not prevent the outbreak of revolution

7560-415: The former chancellor died or resigned. The chancellor's election is one of the few cases in which a vote in the Bundestag requires a majority of all elected members , not just a majority of those assembled at the time, or the so-called Kanzlermehrheit ("chancellor majority"). As with other elections performed by the Bundestag, the chancellor is elected via secret ballot. The election procedure laid down in

7665-737: The head of the Austrian Federal Government is called the Bundeskanzler (federal chancellor), while the head of a state government is called the Landeshauptmann (literally 'state captain'), not Ministerpräsident . In the city-state of Vienna the head of the state government is called the Bürgermeister und Landeshauptmann (Mayor and state captain). The term minister-president ( Dutch : minister-president , French : ministre-président , German : Ministerpräsident )

7770-494: The king but simply take an oath in their respective parliament. See: A Minister President ( Ministerpräsident ) is the head of government in 13 of the 16 States of Germany . Exceptions are the city-states of Berlin , Hamburg and Bremen , where the head of government is called, respectively, the Governing Mayor ( Regierender Bürgermeister ), First Mayor ( Erster Bürgermeister ) and Mayor and President of

7875-516: The limited introduction of European-wide bonds in the medium term, accompanied by more aligned fiscal policies." In February 2011, Steinmeier proposed Steinbrück as a candidate to lead the European Central Bank . On 9 December 2012 an extraordinary National Assembly of the SPD elected Steinbrück, with 93.45 percent of the votes, as candidate for Federal Chancellor, to run in the 2013 federal elections against Angela Merkel . Sigmar Gabriel ,

7980-508: The loose federal government of the brief North German Confederation , which was created on 1 July 1867, had the title Bundeskanzler . The only person to hold the office for those three years was Otto von Bismarck , the serving minister president of the Kingdom of Prussia. Chancellor Bismarck served under the king of Prussia of the Hohenzollern royal dynasty , then William (Wilhelm) I , holder of

8085-538: The media as a sharp-witted political pugilist whose frank opinions have occasionally attracted controversy. As soon as he was nominated as the Social Democrat's challenger to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the 2013 federal elections , Steinbrueck announced he would quit the board of steel conglomerate ThyssenKrupp and all outside work, though not an unpaid seat on soccer club Borussia Dortmund 's board where he saw no conflict of interest . His decision prompted

8190-514: The nature of the chancellorship. After only two months in office, and following the burning of the Reichstag building , the parliament passed the Enabling Act giving the chancellor full legislative powers for a period of four years – the chancellor could introduce any law without consulting parliament. The powers of the chancellor continued to grow until August 1934, when Hindenburg died. Hitler used

8295-633: The new National Assembly of the German Republic (Weimar Republic) several months later in the town of Weimar , in February 1919, but Ebert did not then use the title of chancellor. During that time, Ebert also served as chairman of the " Council of the People's Deputies ", until a month and half later on 29 December 1918 together with the allied Independent Social Democrat party leader Hugo Haase , who unfortunately died later that next year in November 1919. The office of chancellor ( Reichskanzler )

8400-479: The newly unified and established German Empire (" Second Reich ") in 1871, the title was renamed to Reichskanzler (meaning " Imperial Chancellor "). 78 years later after the 1945 defeat in World War II , with the new reorganized Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)'s Basic Law (constitution) of 1949 , the title of Bundeskanzler - "Federal Chancellor" was revived, continuing to the present after 1992 with

8505-511: The now-defunct communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany) , which also existed in a parallel life, first occupied in the eastern Soviet Zone (including a similar wedge of the former German capital of Berlin after World War II by the Red Army of the Soviet Union , which dominated East Germany from 7 October 1949 to 3 October 1990 (when the territory of the former GDR was reunified with

8610-780: The office of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt . He held positions in the Permanent Representative Office of the Federal Republic of Germany in East Berlin from 1981 to 1985. In the 1980s, Steinbrück was the chief of staff to the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia , Johannes Rau . In 1993, he became the State Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure in the state of Schleswig-Holstein . He then returned to North Rhine-Westphalia, where he became

8715-481: The party leader, whom Steinbrück said had not been supportive of his campaign. On 22 September, Steinbrück's Social Democrats won 25.7 percent, while Merkel's CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU together won 41.5 percent of the vote. Following the elections, Steinbrück was part of the SPD delegation to hold exploratory talks with the CDU/CSU on forming a coalition government. As member of parliament, Steinbrück served on

8820-417: The party's chairman at the time, who had also been considered a possible candidate, said the leadership had agreed to nominate Steinbrück after Frank-Walter Steinmeier , the party's parliamentary leader, withdrew from the contest. During his election campaign, Steinbrück promised to introduce rent controls , to raise taxes and use those funds for education and infrastructure. He also accused Merkel of showing

8925-683: The presidencies of both the European Union and the G7 , Steinbrück was criticized for going on holiday with his family in Namibia instead of attending a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Washington and for refusing the offer of other G7 members to succeed Gordon Brown as chair of the International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) . As finance minister, Steinbrück criticized Germany's neighbours in

9030-416: The president on the recommendation of the chancellor (Article 53), and members of the government required the confidence of the Reichstag (Article 54). The provisions gave rise to the question of who in fact was responsible for forming the government. Constitutional law expert Ernst Rudolf Huber said that the constitution had tacitly assumed that the president would have discussions with party leaders in

9135-454: The sole exception of Helmut Kohl, who was elected to his first term via a constructive vote of no confidence against Helmut Schmidt . Unlike in other parliamentary legislatures, the Bundestag cannot remove the chancellor with a traditional motion of no confidence . Instead, the removal of a chancellor is only possible if a majority of the Bundestag members agree on a successor, who is then immediately sworn in as new chancellor. This procedure

9240-466: The subnational level) or prime ministers (typically at the national level). The plural is sometimes formed by adding an s to minister and sometimes by adding an s to president . The term is used, for instance, as a translation ( calque ) of the German word Ministerpräsident . From 1867 to 1918, the first minister of the government was known as Ministerpräsident (minister-president), before that Staatskanzler (state chancellor). Today

9345-410: The subordinate ministers of various portfolios (departments / agencies) on the chancellor's recommendation. The chancellor or any minister had to be dismissed if the lower chamber of the Reichstag legislative assembly (continuing its old name of the previous century of the Reichstag ) demanded it. As today, the chancellor had the prerogative to determine the guidelines of government. In reality this power

9450-456: The taxation system. Following his initiative, Germany introduced a flat rate withholding tax of 25 percent on private income from capital and capital gains, with the aim of preventing tax evasion. He oversaw and orchestrated the regulatory and fiscal efforts to counter the largest financial and economic crisis in post-War history. From 2005, Steinbrück also served as deputy chairman of the SPD . Ahead of

9555-451: The title "Leading Minister". The 1949 German constitution, the Basic Law ( Grundgesetz ), invests the chancellor (German, Bundeskanzler ) with broad powers to initiate government policy. For that reason, some observers refer to the German political system as a "chancellor democracy". Even though the office of chancellor is often considered the most powerful in the German political system and

9660-508: The twelve members of his shadow cabinet , including Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel , Gesche Joost , Yasemin Karakaşoğlu , Christiane Krajewski , Karl Lauterbach , Matthias Machnig , Thomas Oppermann , Florian Pronold , Oliver Scheytt , Klaus Wiesehügel , Manuela Schwesig and Brigitte Zypries . He signalled his support for Jürgen Trittin , at the time co-chairman of the Green Party ’s parliamentary group , to become minister of finance in

9765-464: The various German states (which together with the Reichstag was the Reich's lower legislative chamber and major lawmaking body). The chancellor was also nearly always Minister President of Prussia , which was the largest and dominant state in the Empire. Indirectly, this gave him the power of the Bundesrat, including to dissolve the houses of parliament and call for elections. Although effective government

9870-660: The western Federal Republic of Germany), the position of chancellor did not exist. The equivalent position of head of government there was called either Minister President (Ministerpräsident) or the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR (Vorsitzender des Ministerrats der DDR) , which was the second powerful position under General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (See Leaders of East Germany ). The head of

9975-481: Was a supporter of the so-called " Agenda 2010 ". In the state election on 22 May 2005, Steinbrück's SPD lost to the Christian democratic (CDU) opposition. This loss also had consequences for federal politics: then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder , who already was enfeebled by weak opinion polls and criticism within his own party, announced plans to call an early federal election for the Bundestag . This resulted in

10080-400: Was also the fact that the president had certain special rights. The actions of the president required the countersignature of the chancellor or the minister or ministers concerned, but the president always had to be informed about matters of foreign and defence policy. The Reichstag could call for the dismissal of any member of the government, including the chancellor. Under Articles 54 and 59,

10185-413: Was continued in the Weimar Republic . The Weimar Constitution provided for a two-part executive consisting of a Reich president and a government made up of Reich ministers and a Reich chancellor (Article 52) who determined the guidelines of the government's policy (Article 56). The constitution stipulated that the president appoint and dismiss the chancellor and ministers. The ministers were appointed by

10290-578: Was held by Prince Kaunitz . The imperial chancellery lost its importance, and from the days of Queen Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II , merely existed on paper. After the 1806 dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon, Prince Klemens von Metternich served as state chancellor of the German-speaking Austrian Empire , likewise Prince Karl August von Hardenberg acted as Kingdom of Prussia 's chancellor (1810–1822). The German Confederation of 1815–1866, organized after

10395-443: Was in addition to his salary as a member of parliament, which was over 7,500 euros a month. The data also showed Steinbrück gave 237 other addresses for free to schools and charities, and got industry lobby groups to donate to charity instead of paying him. At the same time, he said the chancellor's salary, at about 250,000 euros annually, is too low because regional savings bank directors are paid more. In April 2007, when Germany held

10500-462: Was limited by the needs of coalition governments of the several major political parties (and numerous smaller minor ones) plus the powers of the Reich President in this early 20th century created version of a European German democratic republic and political system. When the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler came to power after receiving a plurality in the parliamentary elections on 30 January 1933, and

10605-635: Was made more evident when, in April 1945, Hitler gave instruction that upon his death, the office of the Führer would dissolve and be replaced by the previous system of administration: that of the office of the President separate from that of Chancellor. On 30 April 1945, when Hitler committed suicide, he was briefly succeeded as Chancellor by Joseph Goebbels and as President of Germany by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz . When Goebbels also committed suicide, Dönitz appointed Count Schwerin von Krosigk as head of government with

10710-472: Was noted for its attempt to reduce tax breaks and coal subsidies. In the 2005 state election , Steinbrück's SPD lost to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) opposition led by Jürgen Rüttgers , thus marking the end of Steinbrück's tenure as Minister-President. After the 2005 federal election , which resulted in a Grand Coalition government under the leadership of new Chancellor Angela Merkel of

10815-611: Was possible only in cooperation with the Reichstag, the results of the elections had at most an indirect influence on the chancellorship. Only by October 1918 on the verge of disastrous defeat in the First World War , was the Empire's 1871 constitution changed and reformed after 47 years, to require that the chancellor have the trust / confidence of parliament (as in the British Parliament and other European parliamentary democracies). Some two weeks later, Chancellor Max von Baden declared

10920-526: Was set up for the German people by the popularly elected Weimar National Assembly , which met in the historic town of Weimar in 1919/20. According to the Weimar Constitution for the First German Republic (a.k.a. "Weimar Republic", 1919-1933), the chancellor was head of a collegial democratic government. The chancellor was appointed by the new President of Germany (Reich President) , as were

11025-399: Was summoned to the foreign ministry to hear Switzerland's official reaction to what Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey described as Steinbrück's "contemptuous and aggressive" comments. On 26 February 2013 Steinbrück said he was "appalled that two clowns have won" Italy's 24–25 February election . The vote was actually inconclusive with no party garnering a majority in parliament, although

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