Age president

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The age president is usually the oldest participant in an assembly, especially in a parliament . Its main function is to chair the first session ( constituent session ) of the body until a chairman or president has been elected. In carrying out his duties, the senior president is usually assisted by the youngest participants in the meeting, who act as his assessors or provisional secretaries .

Deviating from the living oldest member of the president may also senior to be a member, that the member with the longest (continuous) membership; For example, this has been the case with the Swiss National Council since 2003, the German Bundestag since 2017, and also in the state parliaments of Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein .

Germany

history

During the Weimar Republic , especially the senior presidents in politically turbulent times used their office to make agitational speeches: Wilhelm Pfannkuch ( SPD ) as senior president of the German constitutional assembly on February 6, 1919, Clara Zetkin ( KPD ) as senior president of the 6th Reichstag on March 30 , 1919 . August 1932 and Karl Litzmann ( NSDAP ) as senior president of the 7th, for the last time freely elected Reichstag on December 6, 1932. Especially during the Weimar Republic, the opening sessions were often overshadowed by tumult when communists or national socialists called out the senior president with shouts or rattles. In the opening session of the 2nd Reichstag on May 27, 1924, the communists sang Die Internationale , the members of the right-wing parties responded with the song of the Germans and the senior president Wilhelm Bock (SPD) put his top hat as a sign that the session was over up and left the room. Parliamentary work could only be continued with the election of a president in the second session on the following day.

At the time of National Socialism there were no age presidents. At the beginning of the constituent session of the 8th Reichstag on March 21, 1933, the President of the previous Reichstag Hermann Göring (NSDAP) announced that Section 13 of the Rules of Procedure of the Reichstag, which regulated the office of senior president, had been "suspended" and that the The Reichstag would therefore be opened by the executive president - that is, Goering himself - in accordance with Article 27 of the Reich constitution . At the constituent meetings of the following "uniformed", i. H. Only the Reichstag consisting of members of the NSDAP and their guests in 1933, 1937 and 1939 was also followed.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the senior president of the German Bundestag appears at the opening of the constituent session. Traditionally, he gives the first programmatic speech at the beginning of an electoral term . This speech is also traditionally published in the Federal Government Bulletin . The speech by Stefan Heym , who for the SED -Nachfolgepartei PDS was drawn into the Bundestag and on 10 November 1994 opened be presiding over the 13th term, was not initially in the Bulletin of the time of CDU , CSU and FDP supported the Federal Government published; only after pressure from the opposition did this take place on March 27, 1995.

In the German Bundestag, as was previously the case in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic, it is a tradition for the senior president at the beginning of the first session to make formal sure that he is right in the office. This happened up to the constitution of the 18th Bundestag in 2013, when the senior president gave his date of birth and asked whether there was anyone among the members of the house who was born before this date. Since this was not usually the case, he continued with the agenda. With the leadership of the election of the parliamentary president the office of the senior president is exhausted, he then hands over the chairmanship to the elected president.

Controversy about changing from life to longest serving MP

In March 2017, Bundestag President Norbert Lammert (CDU) proposed to the Council of Elders of the German Bundestag an amendment to the Rules of Procedure (GoBT), according to which the age president should be determined by seniority - i.e. length of parliamentary membership - instead of age at the beginning of the 19th electoral term in autumn 2017 . In his opinion, this ensures that a member of parliament with “sufficient relevant experience” chairs the constituent session. In the media, the move was unanimously seen as an attempt to prevent the possible presidency of a Member of the Alternative for Germany , whose entry into the Bundestag seemed likely in the upcoming elections . At that time, the AfD Bundestag candidates Wilhelm von Gottberg and Alexander Gauland were considered likely presidents of age in the 19th electoral term ; after the change, Wolfgang Schäuble , who has been a member of the Bundestag since 1972, would presumably have become old-age president.

Martin Trefzer , for the AfD in the Berlin House of Representatives, criticized the possible new regulation as a disadvantage for East German parliamentarians: "With the planned change in the rules of procedure, East German MPs would de facto be excluded from holding the presidency until the last West German MP, the high one Haus belonged to before 1990, left the Bundestag ”.

In the plenary session on June 1, 2017, the Bundestag passed the corresponding recommendation for a resolution by the Committee on Election Review, Immunity and Rules of Procedure with a majority of the CDU / CSU and SPD. The parliamentary group of the Left abstained, Bündnis 90 / Greens rejected the change and criticized it through Britta Haßelmann as a "blurry regulation" one month before the end of the legislative period, which meant the danger of promoting "martyrs or the creation of legends". Deviating from the respective faction line, the MPs Klaus Brähmig (CDU / CSU), who warned against changing democratic practices through “sleight of hand”, and the left MP Katrin Werner : It was “unbearable and a blow in the face of all victims of National Socialism ”, when von Gottberg, who described the Holocaust as a myth, becomes old-age president; a change in the rules of procedure is the wrong way to deal with it.

It was doubted whether the amendment to the rules of procedure by the 18th German Bundestag would have any effect on the 19th German Bundestag, which will meet again after the 2017 Bundestag elections. As a constitutional body , the German Bundestag is characterized by the principle of discontinuity . This becomes clear from the wording of Article 39.1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law, which speaks of the meeting of the new Bundestag. This also applies to the rules of procedure of the respective Bundestag. Although Section 1 (2) of the GO-BT standardizes who (so far the oldest, now the longest-serving) is to chair the constituent session of the new Bundestag, this regulation is not yet in force in a purely formal manner before the new Bundestag's rules of procedure are adopted.

It is therefore one of the first tasks of the senior president to have rules of procedure that are valid at least for the constitution. The fact that the office of provisional president, which is necessary for these steps as well as for the election of the actual President of the Bundestag, was exercised by the oldest member of the Bundestag, followed from parliamentary tradition, pre-constitutional customary constitutional law or, precisely because there are no special requirements for these due to the lack of rules of procedure, by tacit resolution. It was also controversial whether it would even be possible to transfer the office of senior president to the senior MP. This would put newly elected MPs at a disadvantage compared to others and thereby violate their free mandate under Article 38 of the Basic Law. According to some observers, a binding regulation would require at least a constitutional amendment.

In this context, Sophie Schönberger speaks of a brief moment of anarchy between the meeting and the resolution of rules of procedure and points out that without acceptance of the previous tradition, theoretically every Member could go forward at the beginning of the session.

It therefore remains to be seen how the possibly competing claims of the oldest with the claims of the most senior MP for the office of senior president can be resolved. In the event of a dispute, a final clarification could only be provided in advance by the Federal Constitutional Court by way of organ dispute proceedings pursuant to Art. 93 (1) No. 1 GG, Section 13 No. 5, Sections 63 et seq. BVerfGG or an interim order in accordance with Section 32 BVerfGG.

The controversy surrounding the senior president was also the subject of Bernd Baumann's speech , which he gave on October 24, 2017 as First Parliamentary Managing Director for the AfD parliamentary group in the constituent session of the 19th German Bundestag . He sharply criticized the change in the rules of procedure by the old Bundestag and compared them with the abolition of the senior president in the 8th German Reichstag in 1933 by Hermann Göring . Baumann claimed in this connection that with this change, Göring wanted to prevent Clara Zetkin from being the age president and thereby exclude those who think differently. For the comparison to the Nazi era and for the entire speech, Baumann earned outrage and criticism from the members of the other parliamentary groups.

Revolutionary period 1848-1850

The Frankfurt National Assembly of 1848/1849 met to draft a constitution for an all-German nation-state .

The Erfurt Union Parliament met in March and April 1850 to discuss and pass a constitutional draft.

North German Confederation and Empire

The Reichstag of the North German Confederation was the parliament of the North German Confederation (1867–1870). The customs parliament comprised both the members from northern Germany and the specially elected members from the south.

In 1871 the state changed its name to the German Reich and the Reichstag became the Reichstag of the German Empire . From 1867 to 1912 (the year of the last Reichstag election before the revolution), the opening ceremony of the Reichstag took place in the White Hall of the Berlin Palace, in which the monarch gave a speech.

  • 1st electoral term, March 21, 1871: Leopold von Frankenberg and Ludwigsdorf (1785–1878), conservative
  • 2nd electoral term, February 5, 1874: Gustav von Bonin (1797–1878), old liberal
  • 3rd electoral term, February 22, 1877: Gustav von Bonin (1797–1878), old liberal
  • 4th electoral term, September 9, 1878: Gustav von Bonin (1797–1878), old liberal
  • 5th electoral term, November 17, 1881: Helmuth Graf von Moltke (1800–1891), conservative, on behalf of the absent MP Jean Dollfus
  • 6th electoral term, November 20, 1884: Helmuth Graf von Moltke (1800–1891), conservative, on behalf of the absent MP Jean Dollfus
  • 7th electoral term, March 3, 1887: Helmuth Graf von Moltke (1800–1891), conservative
  • 8th electoral term, May 6, 1890: Helmuth Graf von Moltke (1800–1891), conservative
  • 9th electoral term, July 4, 1893: Christian Dieden (1810–1898), center
  • 10th electoral term, December 6, 1898: Joseph Lingens (1818–1902), Zentrum, on behalf of the absent MP Christian Dieden
  • 11th electoral term, December 3, 1903: Ulrich von Winterfeldt (1823–1908), German Conservative Party
  • 12th electoral term, February 19, 1907: Ulrich von Winterfeldt (1823–1908), German Conservative Party
  • 13th electoral term, February 7, 1912: Albert Traeger (1830–1912), Progressive People's Party

Weimar Republic

The German constituent assembly drafted the Weimar constitution and served as the German parliament until 1920.

The Reichstag was the parliament of the Weimar Republic (1920–1933).

  • 1st electoral term, June 24, 1920: Heinrich Rieke (1843–1922), SPD
  • 2nd electoral term, 27./28. May 1924: Wilhelm Bock (1846–1931), SPD
  • 3rd electoral term, January 5, 1925: Wilhelm Bock (1846–1931), SPD
  • 4th electoral term, June 13, 1928: Wilhelm Bock (1846–1931), SPD
  • 5th electoral term, October 13, 1930: Carl Herold (1848–1931), center
  • 6th electoral term, August 30, 1932: Clara Zetkin (1857–1933), KPD
  • 7th electoral term, December 6, 1932: Karl Litzmann (1850–1936), NSDAP

Federal Republic of Germany

In 1948/1949 the Parliamentary Council drafted the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany .

The German Bundestag has been the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany since 1949.

  • 1st electoral term, September 7, 1949: Paul Löbe (1875–1967), SPD, former President of the Reichstag
  • 2nd electoral term, October 6, 1953: Marie-Elisabeth Lüders (1878–1966), FDP, instead of the MP Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967), CDU / CSU , who, as executive chancellor, renounced the office of old-age president
  • 3rd electoral term, October 15, 1957: Marie-Elisabeth Lüders (1878–1966), FDP, in place of the Member of Parliament and Executive Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
  • 4th electoral term, October 17, 1961: Robert Pferdmenges (1880–1962), CDU / CSU, instead of the deputy and executive chancellor Konrad Adenauer
  • 5th electoral term, October 19, 1965: Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967), CDU / CSU, former Federal Chancellor. D.
  • Sixth legislative term, October 20, 1969: William Borm (1895–1987), FDP
  • 7th electoral term, December 13, 1972: Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977), CDU / CSU, former Federal Chancellor. D.
  • 8th electoral term, December 14, 1976: Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977), CDU / CSU, former Federal Chancellor. D.
  • 9th electoral term, November 4, 1980: Herbert Wehner (1906–1990), SPD, chairman of the SPD parliamentary group
  • 10th electoral term, March 29, 1983: Willy Brandt (1913–1992), SPD, former Federal Chancellor. D., instead of the MP and Federal Minister a. D. Egon Franke (1913–1995), SPD, who renounced the office of old-age president
  • 11th electoral term, February 18, 1987: Willy Brandt (1913–1992), SPD, former Federal Chancellor. D.
  • 12th electoral term, December 20, 1990: Willy Brandt (1913–1992), SPD, former Federal Chancellor. D.
  • 13th electoral term, November 10, 1994: Stefan Heym (1913–2001), PDS
  • 14th electoral term, October 26, 1998: Fred Gebhardt (1928–2000), PDS
  • 15th electoral term, October 17, 2002: Otto Schily (* 1932), SPD, Executive Minister of the Interior
  • 16th electoral term, October 18, 2005: Otto Schily (* 1932), SPD, Executive Minister of the Interior
  • 17th electoral term, October 27, 2009: Heinz Riesenhuber (* 1935), CDU / CSU, former Federal Minister D.
  • 18th electoral term, October 22, 2013: Heinz Riesenhuber (* 1935), CDU / CSU, former Federal Minister D.
  • 19th electoral term, October 24, 2017: Hermann Otto Solms (* 1940), 33 years in the Bundestag, FDP, instead of the MP and at the time of the constitution, Executive Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble (* 1942, 45 years in the Bundestag), CDU / CSU, who, as President-elect of the Bundestag, renounced the office of old-age president.

The Bundesrat has represented the German states since 1949 . As a continuous organ, in contrast to the German Bundestag as a discontinuous organ, it has no electoral periods. For this reason, senior presidents only appeared twice in the Bundesrat: in the constituent session on September 7, 1949 and in the 20th session on May 12, 1950. Neither the President of the Bundesrat nor its vice-presidents were present at this session, nor were any other heads of government Country. Since this case was not foreseen in the rules of procedure and there were no other customs as yet, the oldest participant took over the chairmanship of the meeting with the consent of the plenary.

German Democratic Republic

The People's Chamber was the parliament of the German Democratic Republic .

  • Provisional People's Chamber, October 7, 1949: Wilhelm Pieck (1876–1960), SED , chaired the first meeting in his capacity as chairman of the German People's Council
  • 1st electoral term, November 8, 1950: Otto Buchwitz (1879–1964), SED
  • 2nd electoral term, November 16, 1954: Otto Buchwitz (1879–1964), SED
  • 3rd electoral term, December 3, 1958: Otto Buchwitz (1879–1964), SED
  • 4th electoral term, November 13, 1963: Otto Buchwitz (1879–1964), SED
  • 5th electoral term, July 13, 1967: Otto Krauss (1884–1971), LDPD
  • 6th electoral term, November 26, 1971: Wilhelmine Schirmer-Pröscher (1889–1992), DFD / LDPD
  • 7th electoral term, October 29, 1976: Wilhelmine Schirmer-Pröscher (1889–1992), DFD / LDPD
  • 8th electoral term, June 25, 1981: Wilhelmine Schirmer-Pröscher (1889–1992), DFD / LDPD
  • 9th electoral term, June 16, 1986: Wilhelmine Schirmer-Pröscher (1889–1992), DFD / LDPD
  • 10th electoral term, April 5, 1990: Lothar Piche (1926–2018), DSU

The GDR Land Chamber represented the GDR Lands that existed until 1952 . After the states were replaced by districts , the deputies were appointed by the district assembly ; In 1958 the regional chamber was finally dissolved.

  • Provisional Chamber of States, October 11, 1949: August Frölich (1877–1966), SED
  • 1st electoral term, November 9, 1950: August Frölich (1877–1966), SED
  • 2nd electoral term, November 29, 1954: August Frölich (1877–1966), SED
  • 3rd electoral term, December 10, 1958: August Frölich (1877–1966), SED

Switzerland

National Council

The National Council is the large chamber of the Swiss parliament. Since 2003, the age president is no longer the oldest member, but the one with the longest membership. The corresponding change in the National Council's business regulations was decided because it had previously been the case that the oldest member was elected to the National Council for the first time and therefore had no experience in parliamentary operations.

Due to this change, Paul Rechsteiner was the youngest age president in the history of the National Council in 2007 at the age of 55.

Council of States

In the Swiss Council of States , an elderly president was only in office at the first session in 1848. Since then, this parliamentary chamber has met without general renewal elections or legislative periods , so that the office of elderly president is unnecessary.

Austria

The National Council of the Republic of Austria does not know the function of the senior president; instead, the President of the previous National Council opens the session and chairs it until the new President is elected. In the House of Representatives of the Austrian Reichsrat , which existed until 1918 , the role of senior president was still common.

House of Representatives

The House of Representatives was the representative body in Austria from 1867 to 1918. The president was only elected for the current session (session within one legislative period), the length of which varied. After the House of Representatives convened again at the beginning of the next session in the same legislative period, the senior president initially held the chairmanship again.

  • September 15, 1870: Karl Freiherr von Pascotini
  • December 27, 1871: Karl Freiherr von Pascotini
  • November 4, 1873: Christian Ritter d'Elvert
  • October 7, 1879: Nicolò Negrelli (Tyrol)
  • September 22, 1885: Kajetan Posselt (Bohemia)
  • April 9, 1891: Franciszek Smolka
  • March 27, 1897: Emanuel Proskowetz
  • September 23, 1897: Ivan Zurkan
  • March 21, 1898: Ivan Zurkan
  • September 26, 1898: Ivan Zurkan
  • October 18, 1899: Ivan Zurkan
  • January 31, 1901: Ferdinand Weigel
  • June 17, 1907: Alois Funke
  • March 10, 1909: Alois Funke
  • October 20, 1909: Alois Funke
  • July 17, 1911: Viktor Freiherr von Fuchs
  • May 30, 1917: Viktor Freiherr von Fuchs

Netherlands

In the Netherlands there is no such thing as an age president. The rules of procedure of the Second Chamber of the States General provide that the draft of a job description for a chamber chairman is adopted in the last session of the old legislative period (Chapter III, Article 4). The chamber decides on the draft in the session of the new legislative period. Candidates will then be asked to introduce themselves and the appropriate ballots will take place.

The first session of the new legislative period will be chaired by the provisional chairman (tijdelijk Voorzitter) . This is usually the chairman of the chamber of the old legislature. If this person is absent (e.g. because he was not re-elected), the following steps are taken:

  • the next previous chamber chairman
  • the last deputy chairman to leave
  • if there are several last deputy chairpersons who have resigned at the same time: taking into account their rank within the Presidium (the rank is determined by the date of appointment according to Article 5 of the Rules of Procedure)
  • the longest serving member of the chamber
  • with the same seniority, the senior member of the Chamber in years.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

In the United Kingdom and the former states of the British Empire , the Father of the House has a role in parliament that corresponds to that of the Age President. This is the longest uninterrupted member of the assembly.

European Union

The European Parliament has existed since 1952 as the Parliament of the European Union and its predecessors. Since 1979, its composition has been determined directly by the electorate of the member states for a five-year electoral term.

Traditionally, the European Parliament elects its President twice in an electoral term: the first time at the beginning and the second time around the middle of an electoral term. On both occasions the senior president acted as chairman of meetings and elections before handing over the chairmanship to the elected president. As of the 7th electoral term (starting on July 14, 2009), the office of age president as the oldest member is abolished. Instead, the constituent meeting and election of the new president is chaired by the outgoing president or an outgoing vice-president; if these are prevented, the member with the longest membership of the European Parliament holds the presidency.

literature

  • Benedekt Brunner: The senior president. A constitutional regulation and its alternatives . With a foreword by Eckhard Jesse , VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-18647-4 .
  • Michael F. Feldkamp (Ed.): The President of the Bundestag. Office - function - person. 16th legislative term. 17th, updated and revised edition. Olzog, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7892-8201-0 , especially pp. 40-46.
  • Heinrich Wilhelm Klopp: The office of the senior president in the German Bundestag. Historical development, appointment, powers and legal status of an institution of German parliamentarism. In: Ulrich Karpen, Heinrich Oberreuter, Wolfgang Zeh (ed.): Contributions to parliamentary law . tape 48 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-10140-5 (also: Kiel, Univ., Diss., 1999).

Web links

Wiktionary: Age President  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

supporting documents

  1. ^ Thomas Mergel : Parliamentary culture in the Weimar Republic. Political communication, symbolic politics and the public in the Reichstag (= contributions to the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Volume 135). Düsseldorf Droste 2002, ISBN 3-7700-5249-8 , pp. 141/142.
  2. a b amendment of the rules of procedure (§ 13, senior president); Election of the presidium. In: Negotiations of the Reichstag, 8th electoral period 1933, volume 457, stenographic reports, annexes to the stenographic reports, subject and speaking registers. March 21, 1933, pp. 15-16 , accessed October 31, 2017 .
  3. ( Section 1, Paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag - GO-BT): In the first session of the Bundestag, the oldest member of the Bundestag or, if he refuses, the next oldest member of the Bundestag presides until the newly elected President or one of his Deputy takes over the office.
  4. Constituent session of the 13th German Bundestag - address by the senior president. In: Bulletin 24-95. Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, March 27, 1995, accessed on January 7, 2017 .
  5. Lammert suggests: In future, the Bundestag's age president should be determined according to "seniority". In: press release. German Bundestag, March 23, 2017, accessed on March 31, 2017 .
  6. This is how Lammert could prevent Gauland. In: Spiegel Online. March 23, 2017, accessed March 31, 2017 .
  7. Dietmar Neuerer: This Bundestag initiative is directed against the AfD. In: Handelsblatt.com. Handelsblatt GmbH, March 24, 2017, accessed on March 31, 2017 .
  8. AfD defends itself against Lammert's presidential trick. In: The world. WeltN24 GmbH, March 24, 2017, accessed on March 31, 2017 .
  9. sz-online: Not because of the AfD. In: sz-online.de. April 2, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2018 .
  10. German Bundestag: Printed matter 18/12376 (PDF) from May 17, 2017.
  11. Marcel Fürstenau: Age President: With Trick 17 against a 77-year-old. In: Deutsche Welle online , June 1, 2017.
  12. German Bundestag Printed Matter 18/237 (PDF) plenary on 1 June 2017 S. 24169 et seq.
  13. German Bundestag Printed Matter 18/237 (PDF) plenary on 1 June 2017. Annex 17, p 24,242th
  14. a b c Bundestag: Senior President: Resolution "pure symbolism". (No longer available online.) In: heute.de. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017 ; accessed on June 27, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heute.de
  15. Thomas Schwerin: The German Bundestag as organizer. Scope, form and function of the right to self-organization according to Article 40, Paragraph 1, Sentence 2 of the Basic Law. In: Werner Kaltenfleiter, Ulrich Karpen, Wolfgang Zeh (Ed.): Contributions to parliamentary law . tape 44 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1998, p. 241 ff .
  16. Gerald Kretschmer: Basic Law Commentary . Ed .: Schmidt-Bleibtreu, Hofmann, Hopfau. 11th edition. Carl Heymanns Verlag, Cologne, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-452-26782-5 , Art. 40, Rn. 30 .
  17. Amendment of § 1 GO-BT from June 25, 2017
  18. ^ A b Hans-Achim Roll: Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag. Comment . Nomos, Baden-Baden 2001, § 1, Rn. 2 ..
  19. Gerald Kretschmer: Basic Law Commentary . Ed .: Schmidt-Bleibtreu, Hofmann, Hopfauf. 11th edition. Carl Heymanns Verlag, Cologne, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-452-26782-5 , Art. 39, Rn. 21 .
  20. a b Heinrich Wilhelm Klopp: The office of senior president in the German Bundestag. Historical development, appointment, powers and legal status of an institution of German parliamentarism . In: Ulrich Karpen, Heinrich Oberreuter, Wolfgang Zeh (ed.): Contributions to parliamentary law . tape 48 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, p. 173 .
  21. Thomas Schwerin: The German Bundestag as organizer . In: Werner Kaltenfleiter, Ulrich Karpen, Wolfgang Zeh (Ed.): Contributions to parliamentary law . tape 44 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1998, p. 246 .
  22. Is the "Lex AfD" really in Nazi tradition? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . October 24, 2017.
  23. Communications. (PDF; 2.5 MB) In: German Federal Council, Meeting Report No. 20/1950. Federal Council, May 12, 1950, p. 326 , accessed on January 7, 2017 .
  24. Art. 2: Age President. (PDF; 177 kB) In: Business Regulations of the National Council (GRN). National Council, October 3, 2003, accessed January 7, 2017 .
  25. Article 14: Provisional Presidency. In: Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. European Parliament, 28 September 2015, accessed 7 January 2017 .
  26. ^ Speech by Mrs Nicole Fontaine, President of the European Parliament: Inauguration of the Louise Weiss Building, with M. Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic. In: The President of the European Parliament: Speeches. European Parliament, December 14, 1999, archived from the original on January 22, 2008 ; accessed on January 7, 2017 .