Economic Council of the United Economic Area

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meeting of the Economic Council of the United Economic Area in Frankfurt am Main (June 1947): the Prime Ministers Karl Arnold (North Rhine-Westphalia), Hermann Lüdemann (Schleswig-Holstein) and Christian Stock (Hesse) (from left to right)

The Economic Council of the United Economic Area (Economic Council of the Bizone ) was an institution in the western zones of occupied post-war Germany. Various organs were assigned to it. The seat of the economic council was Frankfurt am Main. The council met in the west wing of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange .

prehistory

It was particularly important for the US military administration to set up its own German administration as quickly as possible, partly because it wanted to cover the costs incurred in its zone of occupation . The merger to form the Bizone on January 1, 1947, produced the necessary synergy effects .

In order to increase the effectiveness of the administrations, a joint economic administration supported by parliament should be created. For this purpose, however, the structural differences between the American zone of occupation , which had transferred administrative tasks to Germans early on and was organized federally , and the British zone of occupation , which only later assigned administrative tasks to Germans and was organized centrally, had to be eliminated.

A first attempt was made after the failure of its predecessors, two-zone administrative offices and two-zone administrative boards, which existed between September 1946 and June 1947. However, this attempt was unsuccessful due to limited powers and uncoordinated councils.

History of the First Economic Council

The immediate forerunner of the Economic Council of the Bizone is a British founding initiative that was first launched in Minden on March 11, 1946: the German Economic Council for the British Zone of Occupation - at that time not yet coordinated with the Americans. In order to counteract the pressing problems united, the military governments of the Bizone founded a joint economic council on June 25, 1947. The main task of the first bizonal economic council was to improve the catastrophic supply situation in Germany. Ultimately, the Economic Council failed because of this task, because in the winter of 1947/1948 there was a severe hunger crisis. The main reason why the Economic Council did not manage the crisis better was structural problems. Because of its insufficient number of MPs and the unclear division of responsibilities between the various organs, this one was also dissolved. The First Frankfurt Economic Council existed until February 1948.

Appointment and composition of the First Economic Council

Its members were elected equally by the parliaments of the Bizone. There was one MP for every 750,000 inhabitants, so the first Economic Council consisted of 52 MPs. In the overview you can see that the state parliaments sent:

Parliamentary groups in the plenary session of the
First Economic Council
(1947/1948)
       
A total of 52 seats
country MPs
North Rhine-Westphalia 16
Bavaria 12
Lower Saxony 8th
Hesse 5
Württemberg-Baden 5
Schleswig-Holstein 3
Hamburg 2
Bremen 1

The first President of the Economic Council was Erich Köhler from the CDU.

Directory

See also: Directory of the First Economic Council

In the board of directors there were five directors, the committees and administrations in the areas

  1. Economy ( Johannes Semler , CSU)
  2. Food, Agriculture and Forestry ( Hans Schlange-Schöningen , CDU)
  3. Finances ( Alfred Hartmann , CSU)
  4. Post and telecommunications ( Hans Schuberth , CSU)
  5. Transport ( Edmund Frohne , CDU)

directed. They were proposed by the Executive Council and elected by the Economic Council. When the SPD did not receive the economic directorate, it went into opposition and left all directors to the CDU / CSU.

Executive Council

The Executive Council consisted of eight members, who were sent by the eight provincial governments of the Bizone. Initially the SPD had six votes and the CDU / CSU two, later the balance of power shifted to five seats in the SPD against three seats in the CDU / CSU. The SPD majority in the executive council meant that the originally planned stronger role of the executive council was not implemented. General Lucius D. Clay feared that Germany might otherwise drift towards socialism.

Tasks and effects of the First Economic Council

The task of the economic council was to start legislative initiatives, to advise on laws and to pass them with an absolute majority, and it also elected the directors. All decisions were subject to approval by the Allied Bipartite Control Office in Frankfurt. So you can call it the legislature.

Duties of the Board of Directors

The task of the board of directors was to lead the committees and above all the administrations under them and to represent them externally. In addition, it had the right to formulate legislative initiatives, which, however, first had to be submitted to the Executive Council and then passed on to the Economic Council. In addition, the board of directors acted as a kind of executive branch, since the directors were supposed to guarantee the implementation of the laws.

Functions of the Executive Board

The task of the executive board was to represent the interests of the countries. He was given a mix of executive and cabinet . He should start legislative initiatives (cabinet), but also comment on and control the work of directors and administrations as well as the laws of the Economic Council. He also passed on the directors' legislative initiatives.

History of the Second Economic Council

The Second Economic Council was given further rights; accordingly it fulfilled the tasks assigned to it satisfactorily and was only dissolved on 7 September 1949 when the German Bundestag was constituted . However, some of its laws have survived to this day.

Appointment and composition of the Second Economic Council

The Second Frankfurt Economic Council consisted of the same 52 members as the first, but there were a further 52 members who were elected and sent equally by the state parliaments.

Board of Directors

The administrative board now had directors with six departments:

  1. Economy ( Ludwig Erhard , independent)
  2. Food, Agriculture and Forestry ( Hans Schlange-Schöningen , CDU)
  3. Finances ( Alfred Hartmann , CSU)
  4. Post and telecommunications ( Hans Schuberth , CSU)
  5. Transport ( Edmund Frohne , CDU)
  6. Work ( Anton Storch , CDU).

The directors were proposed by the state council and appointed by the economic council. Above them stood the departmental chief director of the administrative board, Hermann Pünder (CDU).

State Council

Each state government sent two councils to the state council, their distribution was: 9 SPD, 6 CDU, 1 center party.

Tasks and effects of the Second Economic Council

The Second Economic Council had the same rights as the first, but also had the right to approve a budget. This essentially consisted of:

Again, this was subject to approval by the military governments.

Duties of the board of directors

The board of directors basically had the same tasks as the board of directors. However, he was allowed to introduce legislative initiatives directly to the Economic Council, which he made ample use of. The chief director was given the task of coordinating the directors in order to avoid duplication and misunderstandings.

Tasks of the state council

The second state council also had the same tasks as the first, but it was supposed to comment on all passed laws.

literature

  • Herbert Alsheimer : The stock exchange in Frankfurt. A place of German post-war history . Frankfurt am Main: Societäts-Verlag 1987
  • Wolfgang Benz : Foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany. From the bizone to the sovereign state , Munich 1999
  • Theodor Eschenburg : Years of Occupation 1945 - 1949 , Stuttgart / Wiesbaden 1983
  • Görtemaker, Manfred: History of the Federal Republic of Germany. From the foundation to the present , Munich 1999
  • Helmut Kistler: The Federal Republic of Germany. Prehistory and history 1945 - 1983 , Bonn 1985
  • Jürgen Weber : On the Way to the Republic 1945–1947 . Munich 1978
  • ders .: The decisive year 1948 , Munich 1979

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eschenburg, Theodor (1983): Years of Occupation. 1945-1949. Stuttgart, Wiesbaden: German publishing company; Brockhaus, p. 390.
  2. ^ Kistler, Helmut and Habel, Fritz Peter (1992): The Federal Republic of Germany. Prehistory and history 1945 - 1983. Unchanged reprint., Special edition. Bonn: Federal Agency for Civic Education (229), p. 82.
  3. ^ Weber, Jürgen (1979): On the way to the republic. 1945 - 1947. Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 143.
  4. ^ Weber, Jürgen (1979): On the way to the republic. 1945 - 1947. Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 144.
  5. ↑ Eschenburg, Theodor (1983): Years of Occupation. 1945-1949. Stuttgart, Wiesbaden: German publishing company; Brockhaus, p. 420.
  6. ↑ Eschenburg, Theodor (1983): Years of Occupation. 1945-1949. Stuttgart, Wiesbaden: German publishing company; Brockhaus, p. 388.
  7. ^ Kistler, Helmut and Habel, Fritz Peter (1992): The Federal Republic of Germany. Prehistory and history 1945 - 1983. Unchanged reprint., Special edition. Bonn: Federal Agency for Civic Education (229), p. 82.
  8. ^ Kistler, Helmut and Habel, Fritz Peter (1992): The Federal Republic of Germany. Prehistory and history 1945 - 1983. Unchanged reprint., Special edition. Bonn: Federal Agency for Civic Education (229), p. 82.
  9. ^ Weber, Jürgen (1979): On the way to the republic. 1945 - 1947. Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 170 [Here the traffic director is named Edmund Frohne; since this is a reprint of an original document, this version is considered correct and that of Eschenburg (1983) incorrect].
  10. ↑ cf. Eschenburg, Theodor (1983): Years of Occupation. 1945-1949. Stuttgart, Wiesbaden: German publishing company; Brockhaus, p. 395. [here the traffic director is named Friedrich Frohne]
  11. ↑ Eschenburg, Theodor (1983): Years of Occupation. 1945-1949. Stuttgart, Wiesbaden: German publishing company; Brockhaus, p. 391.
  12. ↑ cf. Weber, Jürgen (1979): On the way to the republic. 1945 - 1947. Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 147 f.
  13. ↑ Eschenburg, Theodor (1983): Years of Occupation. 1945-1949. Stuttgart, Wiesbaden: German publishing company; Brockhaus, p. 416.
  14. ↑ cf. Weber, Jürgen (1979): On the way to the republic. 1945 - 1947. Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 170.
  15. ↑ cf. Weber, Jürgen (1979): On the way to the republic. 1945 - 1947. Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 327.
  16. ↑ cf. Weber, Jürgen (1979): On the way to the republic. 1945 - 1947. Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 152.

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 55 ″  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 40 ″  E