Bundestag - what is it?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

The Bundestag is the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (Deutscher Bundestag), a unicameral government body representing the interests of the entire German people. It was created as a successor to the Reichstag by law of 1949 and has been based in Berlin since 1999. The Christian Democrat Norbert Lammert, who has been in office since October 18, 2005, is currently the head of the German parliament. It is the Bundestag that elects the Federal Chancellor, who is the head of the German government.

Functions

By its political structure, Germany is a parliamentary republic in which the Bundestag is the most important authority:

• In cooperation with the Bundesrat, he is engaged in legislative activities, developing and adopting various laws and amendments to the Constitution at the federal level. It also ratifies treaties and passes the federal budget.
• The Bundestag performs the functions of legitimizing other authorities, including voting for a candidate for the position of Federal Chancellor, and also participates in the election of the Federal President and judges.
• Supervises the activities of the government, which is obliged to report to it, and also controlsmovement of the country's armed forces.

Dislocation location

After German reunification, the Bundestag moved into the Reichstag building, built at the end of the 19th century and reconstructed by architect Norman Foster. From 1949 to 1999, meetings were held in the Bundeshaus (Bonn).

The buildings that house the Parliament's offices are built next to each other on both sides of the Spree River and are called Paul-Löbe-Haus and Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus in German, after two prominent Democratic parliamentarians.

Elections

Elections to the German parliament are usually held every four years, except in cases of early dissolution.

The Bundestag is a parliament, elections to which are carried out according to a hybrid system, that is, deputies are elected in equal proportions on party lists and in single-member majoritarian districts in one round. The Bundestag consists of 598 deputies, of which 299 are elected by voting in constituencies. The mandates received by candidates from parties as a result of direct elections (in majoritarian districts) are added to the list of deputies from this party, calculated according to the proportional electoral system.

In elections to the German parliament, the majority element does not participate in the distribution of seats between parties, unless one of the parties under the single-member system receives more deputies than it would receive on the basis of the party list system alone. In such cases, the party mayreceive a certain number of additional mandates (Überhangmandate). For example, the 17th Bundestag, which began working on October 28, 2009, consists of 622 deputies, of which 24 are holders of additional mandates.

Dissolution of Parliament

The Federal President (Bundespräsident) has the right to dissolve the Bundestag in two cases:

1. If immediately after the convocation, as well as in the event of the death or resignation of the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bundestag cannot elect a new chancellor by an absolute majority (Article 63, paragraph 4, of the Basic Law of Germany).
2. At the proposal of the chancellor, if the Bundestag decides negatively on a question of confidence put to a vote by that chancellor (art. 68, paragraph 1). This situation has already arisen in 1972, under Chancellor Willy Brandt and President Gustav Heinemann, and also in 1982, when Helmut Kohl was chancellor and Karl Carstens was president. In both cases, as a result of the vote, the chancellor was denied confidence, after which new elections were to be held. On February 16, 1983, the Constitutional Court overturned the decision to deny confidence.

Resignation of Gerhard Schroeder

On May 22, 2005, after the defeat of his party in the regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder announced his intention to put a vote of confidence in order to give the president "all the power necessary to overcome the current crisis state".

As expected, the German Bundestag refusedGerhard Schröder in confidence (for: 151 votes, against: 296 votes, abstaining: 148 votes). After that, the Chancellor filed a formal petition for the dissolution of the Bundestag in the name of Federal President Horst Köhler. On July 21, 2005, the President issued a decree to dissolve Parliament and set an election date for September 18, the first Sunday after school holidays and the last Sunday within the constitutionally mandated 60 days. On August 23 and 25, the Constitutional Court rejected appeals filed by three small parties, as well as deputies Elena Hoffman from the SPD and Werner Schulz from the Green Party.

Structure of the Bundestag

The Bundestag is a body whose most important structural divisions are parliamentary groups called factions. Parliamentary groups organize the work of the legislature. For example, they prepare the work of commissions, introduce bills, amendments, etc.

Each faction consists of a chairman (Fraktionsvorsitzender), several vice-presidents and a presidium that meets every week. During debates and voting, it is traditionally customary to observe strict party discipline (Fraktionsdiziplin). The German parliament is notable for the fact that voting in it is usually carried out on the sign of the chairman of the parliamentary faction.

The Bundestag also includes the Council of Elders (Ältestenrat) and the Presidium. The council consists of the Presidium and 23 elders (leaders of parliamentary groups). It is usually used for negotiationbetween parties, in particular on issues of chairmanship of parliamentary committees and the agenda. As for the presidium, it includes at least chairmen and vice-chairmen from each faction.

Each ministry has one parliamentary committee (currently 21). General leadership is provided by the Chairman of the Bundestag, currently held by Norbert Lammert.