Brandenburg State Parliament

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Landtag Brandenburg
Krajny sejm Bramborska
logo Potsdam City Palace, seat of the Brandenburg State Parliament
logo Potsdam City Palace, seat of the Brandenburg State Parliament
Basic data
Seat: City Palace in Potsdam
Legislative period : five years
First session: September 25, 2019
MPs: 88
Current legislative period
Last choice: 1st September 2019
Next choice: 2024
Chair: Ulrike Liedtke ( SPD ), President of the State Parliament
      
Distribution of seats:
  • SPD 25
  • AfD 23
  • CDU 15th
  • Green 10
  • Left 10
  • BVB / Free Voters 5
    		•
    Website
    www.landtag.brandenburg.de

    The Brandenburg state parliament ( Lower Sorbian Krajny sejm Bramborska ) is the parliament of the state of Brandenburg and has its seat in the city ​​palace in the state capital Potsdam . Deputies are elected for five years, so that after the election in 2019 , the rotational basis in 2024 takes place.

    The state parliament is made up of 88 members. He is responsible for the state legislation, the parliamentary control of the government and administration, the determination of the budget and the elections of the presidium, the state constitutional judge, the members of the state audit office and the prime minister.

    The seventh state parliament was elected on September 1, 2019 . Six parties are represented in this. The SPD is the strongest parliamentary group with 25 seats. The AfD has 23, the CDU 15, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and Die Linke each with 10 seats. The smallest parliamentary group is the United Citizens Movements / Free Voters from Brandenburg with five seats.

    The first state parliament of Brandenburg was elected in 1946 in the Soviet occupation zone . The second parliament was written before the election in 1950 in its composition and existed only until 1952. In its present form it has existed since the formation of the state of Brandenburg in the wake of reunification . Since the first state election in October 1990, the SPD has been the strongest force, has always been involved in the state government and provides the prime minister . Dietmar Woidke has held this position since August 28, 2013 .

    History of the Brandenburg State Parliament

    In the Soviet zone of occupation (1946–1952)

    After the Second World War, an independent state of Brandenburg appeared briefly in the Soviet occupation zone , which had formed from the former province of Brandenburg, but only covered about two thirds of its area. It was initially called "Province of Mark Brandenburg" and only became a fully-fledged state when Prussia was dissolved by the Allied Control Council in February 1947. Initially ruled one of the military administration used Consultative Assembly , which had no parliamentary control or legitimacy and was dependent on the military administration. This changed with the elections for the Brandenburg state parliament on October 20, 1946, which took place with competing lists under democratic auspices.

    In the newly elected state parliament, the two bourgeois parties, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) with 31 seats and the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDP) with 20 seats, opposed the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) with 44 seats and that dominated by the SED Association of Mutual Farmers Aid (VdgB) with five mandates over a head start of two seats. However, the formation of an all-party government under Prime Minister Karl Steinhoff (SED) prevented a dualism between government and opposition. Laws were mostly passed unanimously and required the consent of the military administration, which also intervened in ongoing legislative processes. The state parliament drafted a constitution, which was unanimously adopted in February 1947 and contained a catalog of fundamental rights that contained the right to freedom of movement and expression . The state parliament had the status of the "highest will-holder [s] of the Mark Brandenburg" , had parliamentary control and determined the principles that made the guidelines of the government.

    Although the state parliament was endowed with a great deal of power, the pressure of the SED and the military administration on the bourgeois parties increased. The first arrests of CDU and LDP politicians took place as early as 1948 and in the following year these two parties were asked to purge their ranks of “reactionary elements”. The next elections in 1950 were carried out on the basis of a single list and brought a solid majority for the SED. The euphemistically titled “Law on the Further Democratization of the Structure and Functioning of State Bodies in the State of Brandenburg” on July 25, 1952 meant the state's self-dissolution and initiated the formation of the three districts of Potsdam, Frankfurt / Oder and Cottbus.

    After reunification (since 1990)

    Manfred Stolpe (left), Prime Minister from 1990 to 2002, during an election campaign event in the run-up to the 1990 state elections

    The first state election after the re-establishment of the state of Brandenburg a few days earlier took place on October 14, 1990. The SPD became the strongest parliamentary group, while in the other new federal states, where the state elections were held on the same day, the CDU won.

    The SPD politician Manfred Stolpe was elected Prime Minister and, together with the FDP and Bündnis 90, formed the first traffic light coalition at state level. According to the Land Introduction Act, the newly elected Landtag was granted the status of a constituent state assembly, according to which it should draft a new state constitution. In the constituent session, the state parliament adopted provisional rules of procedure; In the second session, it passed a law introduced jointly by all parliamentary groups, which contained the most important state organizational principles for the transitional period.

    A constitutional committee was set up to which 15 members of parliament and 15 non-parliamentarians belonged. Since, in contrast to other federal states, the SPD and Bündnis 90 were able to exert a decisive influence on the constitution, some ideas and ideals from the time of transition were incorporated into the constitutional text. The constitutional anchoring of basic social rights, the area of ​​marriage, unions and abortion, as well as threshold clauses in state elections and quorums in the people's legislation caused controversy . After the second reading, a few compromises were negotiated so that the CDU parliamentary group could also approve the constitutional text without hesitation, which had some reservations, especially with regard to fundamental rights and national goals. This draft compromise was passed unanimously by the Constitutional Committee on April 9, 1992. One day before the third reading, in which the state parliament was supposed to pass the constitution, the CDU state chairman Ulf Fink recommended that the members of the Union vote against the constitution. The draft submitted by the SPD, FDP, PDS-Linke Liste and Bündnis 90 achieved the necessary two-thirds majority, although eleven of the 25 CDU MPs voted against and four abstained. A conflict ensued within the Brandenburg CDU between supporters and opponents of the constitution, which led to Beate Blechinger and Peter-Michael Diestel withdrawing from the parliamentary group leadership and Ulf Fink, in the run-up to the referendum on the constitution, calling on the Brandenburgers to "no" be right. In the referendum, which had a low turnout of 47.9 percent, 94 percent of Brandenburgers voted for the new constitution, after which it came into force on August 20, 1992.

    In March 1994 Bündnis 90 left the governing coalition and a social-liberal minority government under Manfred Stolpe ruled until the regular end of the legislative period. In the state elections in September 1994, the SPD received 54.1 percent of the vote and was able to continue to govern without a coalition partner. The CDU, on the other hand, lost 10.7 percentage points and came in at only 18.7 percent, as did the PDS. This disastrous election result of the Union was explained by two circumstances: on the one hand by the clear lead in popularity of the incumbent Prime Minister Stolpe, who 81% of the voters wanted as Prime Minister, while CDU candidate Peter Wagner came to just seven percent. On the other hand, the CDU parliamentary group had shown itself to be extremely divided in the first electoral term.

    Due to the extension of an electoral period, the next state election did not take place until September 1999. The SPD lost almost 15 percentage points of the vote, while the CDU gained almost eight. Stolpe's popularity was unbroken, but the poor track record of his state government and the mood in federal politics weighed on the SPD's results. In the CDU, top candidate Jörg Schönbohm had ended the quarrel. The PDS was again able to win more votes and came to 23 percent. The right-wing extremist DVU moved into the Brandenburg state parliament for the first time. Due to an overhang mandate from the SPD, the state parliament had 89 instead of 88 members in the third electoral period. Exploratory talks took place between the SPD and PDS, as well as the SPD and CDU. The then Minister for Labor, Social Affairs, Health and Women, Regine Hildebrandt , campaigned for a red-red alliance. When Manfred Stolpe announced a grand coalition , she resigned from the state government. In June 2002 Manfred Stolpe announced his resignation as Prime Minister. The then Lord Mayor of Potsdam, Matthias Platzeck, was elected as his successor. After the federal elections on September 22, 2002, Stolpe himself was appointed Federal Minister for Transport, Building and Housing by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder .

    Platzeck was able to defend the leading role of the SPD in the 2004 state elections . From 2004 to 2009 he continued to rule with the CDU in a grand coalition, although both parties lost about seven percent each. Other parties represented in the state parliament in the fourth legislative period were the PDS and the DVU. The PDS gained four percent compared to 1999 and was the second largest group; Before the election, the DVU had made an agreement with the NPD in the so-called “ Germany Pact ” that these two parties would not compete against each other, so that the DVU again succeeded in making it into the state parliament with six percent. The FDP and the Greens failed at the five percent hurdle. For the first time since the first state elections in 1990, voter turnout rose slightly and stood at 56.4 percent.

    The state election in Brandenburg 2009 took place on September 27, 2009 together with the federal election. As a result, the turnout rose from 56.4 to 67.5 percent. The SPD had led an election campaign tailored to its popular Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck and was again the strongest party with 33 percent, although it suffered heavy losses in the federal election that took place at the same time. The left lost slightly and received 27.2 percent. The CDU was able to improve slightly with 19.8 percent. The FDP made it into the state parliament with 7.2 percent, as did the Greens with 5.6 percent. The Free Voters List Association, consisting of the political associations Brandenburg United Citizens Movements and Free Voters Brandenburg , achieved 1.7 percent of the votes from a standing start, but failed to make it into the Potsdam state parliament. The DVU with its top candidate Liane Hesselbarth failed with 1.2 percent clearly at the five percent hurdle and left the state parliament. The downfall of the DVU had already been forecast, especially since the NPD had terminated the “Germany Pact” and also took it, but only achieved 2.6 percent.

    When the government was being formed, Platzeck announced that he would hold talks with both the left and the CDU. After the exploratory talks, the SPD decided against continuing the government with the CDU and in favor of a red-red coalition. On November 6, 2009, Platzeck was re-elected Prime Minister with 54 votes and 32 votes against in the first ballot.

    Since 2011, the minimum age for active voting has been 16 years.

    After Matthias Platzeck announced his resignation on August 28, 2013 for health reasons, Dietmar Woidke (also SPD) was elected as the new Prime Minister. Under his leadership, the SPD was confirmed as the strongest parliamentary group in the state elections on September 14, 2014 . For the first time, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) moved into the state parliament with 12.2 percent and became the fourth strongest force after the SPD, CDU and Left. The coalition of the SPD and the left continued.

    In the state elections on September 1, 2019 , the state government lost its majority in the state parliament. The SPD under Prime Minister Woidke slipped to 26.2 percent and was only barely the strongest force before the AfD, which rose by 11.3 points to 23.5 percent. The Left lost 7.9 points to 10.7 percent and the CDU 7.4 points to 15.6 percent, while the Greens gained 10.8 percent and the Brandenburg United Citizens Movements / Free Voters with 5.0 percent for the first time in faction strength entered the state parliament. The FDP failed again at the five percent hurdle. In order to secure a stable majority of 50 mandates (of 88 seats) in the state parliament for the new state government, the SPD decided after explorations to start coalition talks with the CDU and the Greens on the formation of a so-called Kenya coalition . The negotiators of the Greens around top candidate Ursula Nonnemacher could not prevail with the desire to form a coalition of their party with the SPD and the left. This constellation would only have had a very narrow majority of one mandate in the state parliament (45 out of 88 seats).

    Overview

    Brandenburg State Parliament cabinet particularities
    Electoral term Distribution of seats President of the Landtag
    election day total SPD DIE LINKE 1 CDU FDP GREEN / B90 2 DVU AfD BVB / FW LDP VdgB Others
    1. 10/20/1946 100 - 44 31 - - - - - 20th 5 - Friedrich Ebert junior (SED)
    (change 1949)
    Otto Meier (SED)     		Steinhoff I
    Steinhoff II
    Jahn I
    2. 15.10.1950 3 100 - 18th 14th - - - - - 12 3 11 FDGB
    6 DBD
    6 NDPD
    9 DFD
    9 FDJ
    5 Kulturbund
    4 VVN
    3 consumer
    cooperatives         		Otto Meier (SED) Jahn II
    1. 10/14/1990 88 36 13 27 6th 6th - - - - - - Dr. Herbert Knoblich (SPD) Stumble I.
    2. 09/11/1994 88 52 18th 18th - - - - - - - - Stolpe II
    3. 09/05/1999 89 37 22nd 25th - - 5 - - - - - Stolpe III
    Platzeck I     		On June 26, 2002, he moved
    from Stolpe to Platzeck
    4th 09/19/2004 88 33 29 20th - - 6th - - - - - Gunter Fritsch (SPD) Platzeck II
    5. 09/27/2009 88 31 26th 19th 7th 5 - - - - - - Platzeck III
    Woidke I     		On August 28, 2013
    change from Platzeck to Woidke.
    6th 09/14/2014 88 30th 17th 21st - 6th - 11 3 - - - Britta Stark (SPD) Woidke II
    7th 09/01/2019 88 25th 10 15th - 10 - 23 5 - - - Ulrike Liedtke (SPD) Woidke III

    1 1946 and 1950 SED , 1990 PDS - Left List, 1994 to 2005 PDS, 2005 to 2007 Die Linkspartei.PDS, since 2007 Die Linke
    2 1990 to 1993 Bündnis 90 , since 1993 Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen
    3 The distribution of seats and members of parliament were before of the election in the unified list of the National Front . It was a sham election.

    Assignment of mandates

    State elections in Brandenburg have been held every five years since 1994. The last state election took place on September 1, 2019. New elections take place at the earliest 57 and at the latest 60 months after the beginning of the electoral term. The election day, which the President of the State Parliament determines together with the Presidium of the State Parliament, must be a Sunday or a public holiday. The deputies are elected by general, direct, free, secret and equal election. All German citizens who have reached the age of 16, have had their permanent residence in Brandenburg for at least one month and have not lost their right to vote through a judicial decision are entitled to vote . The stand for election have all those who reached the age of 18 and have their permanent residence for at least three months in Brandenburg. Anyone who does not have the right to vote as a result of a judge's verdict, is in a psychiatric hospital due to an order in accordance with Section 63 in conjunction with Section 20 of the Criminal Code or is not eligible for election or is unable to hold public office as a result of a judge's verdict cannot be elected.

    Electoral system

    The 88 members of the Brandenburg State Parliament are elected through personalized proportional representation. One half is determined by majority vote as direct candidates from the constituencies , the other half by proportional representation according to the state lists of the parties. In Brandenburg, as in Saxony-Anhalt (and in contrast to all other federal states) list connections are possible. The seats in parliament are distributed according to the Hare-Niemeyer procedure . However, only those parties, political associations and lists that receive at least five percent of the valid votes cast in the electoral area or win at least one direct mandate are taken into account. According to § 3 Paragraph 1 Clause 2 of the Brandenburg State Election Act, the parties, political connections and list associations of the Sorbs , such as the Lusatian Alliance, are excluded from this threshold clause . If a party receives more mandates through the direct mandates awarded by the first vote than it is entitled to according to the balance of power distributed according to the second vote , it will retain these seats and receive so-called overhang mandates . These overhangs are compensated for for the other parties by means of compensatory mandates, so that up to 110 members can move into the state parliament. So far, an overhang mandate has only been given to the SPD once in the third electoral term, so that the state parliament had 89 members in that electoral term.

    Elective test

    The election test is the task of the state parliament. In accordance with Section 1 of the Election Examination Act, an election examination only takes place upon objection or application. Anyone entitled to vote, as well as the state returning officer and the president of the state parliament in their official capacity, can file an objection . However, this objection must be based on a specific fact, such as an incorrect calculation of the election result or the non-recognition of valid votes. An electoral examination committee is formed for the electoral examination in the constituent session of the state parliament.

    Constitution of the Landtag

    The newly elected state parliament meets for its constituent session at the latest thirty days after the state parliament election. The term of office of the previous state assembly only ends when the new state assembly meets, so that there is no time without a parliament. Until the newly elected president takes office, the senior president , i.e. the oldest person belonging to the state parliament, takes over the chairmanship .

    First of all, the senior president informs about which parliamentary groups were founded and when and who their chairmen, deputy chairmen and parliamentary directors will be. The constitution begins with the calling of the individual MPs by name and the implementation of provisional rules of procedure , which are usually replaced by a final version, which the main committee of the state parliament will be responsible for drafting.

    After the rules of procedure have been established, the President of the State Parliament, the Vice-Presidents and the other Presidium are elected in separate ballots. The election is open if there is only one candidate or none of the members objects. The strongest parliamentary group has the right to propose a state parliament president. If this is elected, he takes over the chairmanship of the meeting from the senior president. This is followed by the election of the vice-presidents, who are proposed by the second and third largest political groups. However, the list of additional candidates is not excluded. Before the other members of the Presidium are elected individually, a decision is made as to the number of personnel the Presidium should have.

    Functions

    legislation

    One of the tasks of the state parliament is to pass state laws. Bills can be proposed by the state government, individual members of parliament, the president, the presidium, the committees and the parliamentary groups, but the legislative initiative usually comes from the state government. Legislative proposals can also be introduced to the state parliament via a referendum , provided that 80,000 Brandenburg citizens who are entitled to vote support a legal issue with their signature. The state parliament must treat this bill in the same way as a law introduced by the state government or a law introduced from the center of the state parliament. If he does not fulfill this task within two months, a referendum is held .

    Legislation in Brandenburg
    Electoral term Draft laws
    (government drafts)    		 it
    adopted
    1990-1994 256 (177) 207
    1994-1999 190 (142) 157
    1999-2004 192 (136) 146
    2004-2009 189 (131) 154
    2009-2014 189 (125) 153
    2014-2019 211 (116) 150

    In principle, there are two readings before voting on a legislative proposal. In the first reading, there is a fundamental debate on the proposed law, which is then referred to one or more committees, with one or more committees being determined to take the lead. The draft law is revised in the committees and brought back to the state parliament with a recommendation for a second reading. In the second reading, the draft law is discussed in detail and at the end of the discussion it is voted on whether it will come into force. As long as the deliberative session is not closed, the political groups or individual MEPs can still submit amendments, which are then voted on. Bills are considered to have been passed if a majority of the votes cast are in favor. Constitutional drafts, however, require a two-thirds majority.

    Bills that change or add to the wording of the constitution are discussed in three readings, as is the budget. A third reading also takes place if a parliamentary group or a fifth of the members of the state parliament make a corresponding request. In order for laws to come into force, they must be drawn up by the President of the State Parliament after they have been passed by the State Parliament, i.e. their original version must be certified by signature and announced in the Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Brandenburg.

    budgeting

    In Article 101, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the State of Brandenburg, the State Parliament of Brandenburg is assigned budgetary rights . According to the constitution, the state parliament can set the budget for one year or for several years. The budget is drawn up by the state government, which sets the priorities for the following year (or years). The members of the state parliament have a control function that has the "character of a general accounting with the work of the state government". Your task is to review, amend and approve the draft budget. At the end of each budget year, the finance minister gives the state parliament an account of the use of the funds, assets and debts. The entire budget and economic management of the state and its special assets and operations are audited by the state audit office.

    Control function

    The state parliament of Brandenburg also has the task of parliamentary control , which provides for monitoring the activities of the state government and those of the state administration subordinate to it. The control is carried out by reviewing, objecting to and approving government action both retrospectively and by formulating recommendations in advance. The dividing line of control often does not run between parliament and government, but between the government and the factions that support it, on the one hand, and the opposition factions on the other.

    Right to speak and ask questions

    There are various instruments to control the state government and the state administration. This includes the parliamentary right to speak and ask questions. Every member of parliament has the right to speak and to submit inquiries and motions in order to obtain information on matters that fall within the competence of the state government. According to the Brandenburg state constitution, the government must answer these inquiries immediately to the best of its knowledge and in full, which means stronger information rights compared to the Basic Law or other state constitutions. According to the rules of procedure , the right to ask questions includes large , small , oral and urgent questions. Large inquiries mostly concern nationwide problems or subject-specific matters of supraregional importance and particular political weight and essentially serve to control the general political direction. They can be introduced by a parliamentary group or a fifth of the MEPs and must be answered in writing within three months. Small inquiries usually only relate to individual cases or individual measures by the government or administration. They can be put in writing by any member of parliament and the state government must respond to them within four weeks.

    Oral and urgent inquiries have the function of allowing the members of the plenary session to request statements from the state government on certain questions in public. Oral questions can be put by any MP. Urgent inquiries can be made with a shorter deadline and serve to clarify current and politically explosive questions. They must be approved by the President in agreement with the Vice-Presidents.

    The Brandenburg state constitution stipulates that the state government must inform the state parliament and the committees about the preparation of laws on certain topics at an early stage and in full. This includes laws and ordinances on fundamental issues of spatial planning, site planning and the implementation of large-scale projects. Furthermore, this duty of information relates to participation in the Federal Council and cooperation with the federal government, other federal states, other states and the European Union .

    Committee of Inquiry

    The state parliament is entitled to set up a committee of inquiry to clarify matters that are in the public interest. The committee must present the results of the investigations to the state parliament in a final report. In addition, every member of the committee of inquiry has the right to add a dissenting opinion to the report. In the third electoral period , three committees of inquiry were set up to deal with Berlin-Schönefeld Airport, the Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft (LEG) and the Frankfurt (Oder) chip factory . Committee of Inquiry 4/1, set up by resolution of February 27, 2008, deals with the land reform affair that became known at the end of 2007. On April 29, 2016, at the request of a majority of 60 MPs, the state parliament set up a committee of inquiry into "Organized right-wing extremist violence and official acts, especially on the National Socialist Underground (NSU) complex" (UA 6/1).

    Commissions

    Parliamentary Control Commission

    In matters relating to the protection of the constitution , the state government is subject to the control of the Parliamentary Control Commission (PKK), to which a maximum of five members belong. The opposition must be adequately represented in the composition of the PKK. The state government must inform the PKK about general activities of the constitution protection authority, about events of particular importance, as well as about individual cases. The PKK also has different information rights in order to obtain the information required to be able to carry out its control tasks.

    G10 commission

    Finally, with the G10 Commission, which is named under Article 10 of the Basic Law , there is a final control body. The G10 commission has the task of reviewing the restrictive measures of the free democratic basic order ordered by the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry of the Interior is obliged to notify the Commission of such restrictive measures as telephone wiretapping.

    Insertion function

    Another important task of the Brandenburg State Parliament is the election of the Prime Minister of the State of Brandenburg. In the run-up to the constituent session, a potential government coalition has usually been formed, which can vote for its candidate with the majority of the MPs without debate in a secret ballot . Every MP is entitled to propose; People who do not belong to Parliament can also be proposed. If the nominee does not receive an absolute majority in the first ballot , a second ballot follows. If he does not receive an absolute majority in this ballot either, a third ballot follows, in which the relative majority of the MPs is sufficient. If the election of the prime minister does not take place three weeks after the constituent meeting, the state parliament is considered dissolved and new elections follow.

    After the Prime Minister has taken his oath of office , he takes over the official business and appoints his cabinet. He forms the cabinet by handing over documents of appointment to his ministers, who, like him, take an oath of office. When allocating the departments, the political priorities of the respective partners play an important role, because specific topics are associated with certain parties, so that they strive to take responsibility in the respective department. The head of government has the authority to issue guidelines and is responsible to the state parliament. Within these guidelines, each minister heads his department independently. The Prime Minister's term of office normally ends with the convening of a new state parliament, but can be terminated prematurely by means of a constructive vote of no confidence or a failed vote of confidence .

    In addition, the Brandenburg State Parliament elects the members of the State Audit Office, the members of the State Constitutional Court, the State Commissioner for Data Protection and for the Right to Access Files, and committee members of the G10 Commission, the Parliamentary Control Commission, the Council for Sorbian (Wendish) Affairs, the Judges' Election Committee , as well as the representatives of the state parliament in the state youth welfare committee and in the broadcasting council of the RBB .

    Organization of MPs

    Ulrike Liedtke Britta Stark Gunter Fritsch Herbert Knoblich

    Bureau

    The President of the Landtag presides over the Landtag and represents it externally. He is the highest representative of the state of Brandenburg, so he receives state guests from Germany and abroad. In its first session, the state parliament elects the state parliament president from among its members. The strongest parliamentary group has the right to propose the election of the president (Art. 69 (1) Constitution of the State of Brandenburg). In the conduct of his business he is nonetheless impartial - also towards his own parliamentary group. The president can be voted out by a two-thirds majority.

    The President of the State Parliament calls both the sessions of Parliament and the meetings of the Presidium, both of which he opens, chairs and closes. Parliamentary sessions can also be convened at the request of one fifth of members of parliament and at the request of the government. In the state parliament, the president exercises house rights and police power. In addition, it decides on the admission of items to be discussed in accordance with the rules of procedure, has the printing and distribution of all documents and accepts inquiries and applications to be submitted to the President of the State Parliament. In the legislative process, a law only comes into force once it has been signed by him. If the president of the state parliament is not present, his duties are taken over by the vice-presidents. If they are not present either, the President of the State Parliament is represented by a member of the Presidium who belongs to the largest parliamentary group. In the 5th electoral term, the Social Democrat Gunter Fritsch was President of the Landtag; he already held this office in the 4th electoral term. Gerrit Große was Vice-President of the State Parliament in the 5th electoral term since December 2009 , after Gerlinde Stobrawa (both DIE LINKE) resigned from her office in November 2009. In the 6th electoral period, the Social Democrat Britta Stark was the President of the State Parliament and Dieter Dombrowski from the CDU was Vice-President of the State Parliament . In the 7th electoral term, since September 2019, the Social Democrat Ulrike Liedtke has been President of the State Parliament. Andreas Galau from the AfD and Barbara Richstein from the CDU are the vice-presidents of the state parliament.

    The other members of the Presidium, as well as the President and Vice-Presidents, are elected in the constituent session from the middle of the State Parliament. Each parliamentary group represented in the state parliament has the right to appoint at least one member of the presidium. It supports the President in the exercise of his duties, brings about agreements between the political groups, decides on the meeting and schedule, and sets the agenda for the plenary sessions. The members of the Presidium, like the President of the State Parliament, can be voted out by a two-thirds majority of the MPs.

    Factions

    For elected officials from the same party or list, there is the possibility of joining forces to form political groups. A law on the legal status and funding of political groups passed in 1994 stipulates a minimum size of five MPs who must all belong to the same party. Before this law was passed, the approval of the state parliament was required for every parliamentary group formation; today it is only required if these rules are deviated from. Each parliamentary group has the right to representation in the presidium, in each committee, in each investigative committee and each study commission, as well as the allocation of funds from the state budget. In the Brandenburg constitution, the parliamentary groups are granted the status of central units.

    Working groups are formed within the parliamentary groups, which, like the specialist committees, mirror the departments of the state government. These working groups usually include those members who also belong to the relevant technical committees and who take on the leadership of the working groups. However, this pattern is usually only possible in large groups. In the third electoral term, only the SPD parliamentary group had a corresponding working group for each parliamentary committee. The CDU had four working groups, the PDS three, the DVU none.

    Because of the comparatively small size of the Brandenburg State Parliament and the small size of the parliamentary groups, a few people are sufficient for the parliamentary group boards. The parliamentary groups have a chairman, two or three deputies, and a parliamentary director. The chairmen lead the parliamentary group politically and organizationally, have significant influence on the development of political content, ensure political unity and lead the parliamentary group's administration. The parliamentary manager coordinates the parliamentary work of the parliamentary group, in which, among other things, he determines the procedures in the plenary with the parliamentary managers of the other parliamentary groups.

    The parliamentary groups are entitled to financial resources from the state budget, which consist of a basic contribution for each parliamentary group, a contribution for each member and a surcharge for each parliamentary group that does not bear the state government (opposition surcharge). These funds may only be used for tasks that comply with the Brandenburg constitution, the laws and the rules of procedure of the Brandenburg State Parliament. Use for party purposes is not permitted.

    groups

    Since April 1, 2015, it has been possible for at least three MPs who do not have the minimum number of members required to form a parliamentary group but who meet the other requirements for a parliamentary group to form a parliamentary group. To this end, they are then provided with a basic set of financial and material resources and their own legal nature for their joint work. The group can also name a speaker.

    As a result, the three members of the BVB / Free Voters formed the first group in the Brandenburg state parliament in the 6th electoral period of the state parliament.

    Committees

    State Parliament committees (as of February 4, 2019, 6th electoral period)
    Committee Chairman fraction Deputy
    Chairman    		 fraction
    Main committee Mike Bischoff SPD Ingo Senftleben CDU
    Home Affairs Committee Klara Geywitz SPD Björn Lakenmacher CDU
    Legal Committee Margitta Mighty THE LEFT Danny Eichelbaum CDU
    Committee on Education, Youth and Sport Gerrit Große THE LEFT Simona Koß SPD
    Science, Research and Culture Committee Marie Luise von Halem GREEN / B90 Ulrike Liedtke SPD
    Committee on Labor, Social Affairs, Women and Family Sylvia Lehmann SPD Bettina Fortunato THE LEFT
    Economic Committee Ralf Holzschuher SPD Christina What a shame AfD
    Committee on Rural Development, Environment and Agriculture Sven Schröder AfD Wolfgang Roick SPD
    Committee for Infrastructure and Regional Planning Danny Eichelbaum CDU Anita Tack THE LEFT
    Budget and Finance Committee Saskia Ludwig CDU Carsten Preuss THE LEFT
    Budgetary Control Committee Rainer van Raemdonck AfD Helmut Barthel SPD
    Subcommittee of the Budgetary Control Committee Uwe Schmidt SPD Andreas Gliese CDU
    Committee on European Affairs, Development Policy and Consumer Protection Marco Büchel THE LEFT Michael Jungclaus GREEN / B90
    Electoral review committee (vacant) Tina Fischer SPD
    Petitions Committee Kristy Augustin CDU Elisabeth Alter SPD

    As in all other parliaments, the committees in the Brandenburg State Parliament serve to relieve the plenum in terms of time and technical aspects and to monitor the ministers in a subject-specific manner. In the second electoral period there were 16 committees, meanwhile only 14, nine of which are subject-specific to the ministries. At the beginning of the third legislative period there was a reorganization of the ministries, in the course of which the Ministry of Food was added to the Agriculture department and the Brandenburg-Berlin Committee, which had prepared the failed merger attempt in 1996, was not re-established. The main committee, which is responsible for clarifying questions of a fundamental nature, constitutional issues, the state parliament's rules of procedure, federal affairs, relations between Berlin and Brandenburg, and media policy, has traditionally been of great importance. The Petitions Committee is important above all for the citizens and residents of Brandenburg, because it examines all submissions through which the citizens can help shape politics through suggestions, criticism or complaints. Every citizen is entitled to petition regardless of age or nationality.

    The members of the committees are proportionate and each parliamentary group is guaranteed at least one seat on each committee. With ten members per committee now, double or even triple appointments can hardly be avoided, especially in the small parliamentary groups. The committee chairmen are appointed by the executive committee by mutual agreement and elected by the committee; if this does not succeed, the chair will be assigned according to the Hare-Niemeyer procedure. In 1991, the responsible subcommittee of the Constitutional Committee voted with a slim majority that the committees should not meet in public. The main argument was the fear that this would create greater transparency but endanger the security of the ability to reach a consensus. At the beginning of the 6th electoral period, the Brandenburg state parliament decided that all committees meet in public. The public can be excluded by resolution of the committee.

    The main work of Parliament is done in the committees, which is not only reflected in the frequency and length of meetings, but also in the understanding of the MEPs. Together with the specialist ministers, their representatives (state secretaries) or specialist officials of the respective ministry, they prepare the bills that are submitted to the plenary for resolution. The committees receive their orders from the state parliament or act within their area of ​​responsibility on their own initiative. The jobs have to be done soon. At the request of one fifth of the members of the state parliament, a committee must report to the state parliament no later than six months after it has been commissioned with an item for discussion. If a committee is unable to complete an order, it returns it to the state parliament.

    Study Commission

    The study commission deals with questions of the future, i.e. with longer-term and more extensive issues than normal parliamentary work. They serve to respond to social developments in the country, for example with the municipal area reform in 1993 . In addition to parliamentarians, the inquiry commissions also include non-parliamentarians as experts who constantly participate in the commission's work and are not only invited to specific appointments - as in the specialist committees. Study commissions are set up if more than a third of the MPs support it. Once the work of a study commission has been completed, it submits a final report to parliament, which can contain recommendations for the further procedure.

    Council for Sorbs / Wends Affairs (RASW)

    Bilingual house board in German and Lower Sorbian

    Around 20,000 Sorbs , who also call themselves Wends , live in the Sorbian settlement area in the state of Brandenburg . They have the status of a national and linguistic minority and are under the special protection of the constitution of the state of Brandenburg. The rights of the Sorbs formulated in Article 25 provide that a council for Sorbian affairs is formed from five members of the Sorbian people for the duration of one electoral term. The members are elected by the Sorbian people. The council is an advisory body of the Brandenburg state parliament, to which all items of the state parliament that affect the rights of the Sorbs are submitted. The Council can then take part in committee meetings in an advisory capacity and comment on draft laws there. The Council for Sorbian Affairs was established in December 1994 after it became clear in the first state parliament election in 1990, despite the abolition of the threshold clause, that Sorbian representatives only have limited opportunities to win a state parliament mandate in an independent organizational form.

    Position of the MPs

    The members of the Brandenburg State Parliament have no imperative mandate , so they are not bound by any instructions from their party and are only responsible to their conscience. In addition, the MPs are assured of indemnity and immunity . In Brandenburg, however, a state parliament resolution is required that grants immunity to individual members of the parliament, while in all other state parliaments the members of the state have the protection of immunity by virtue of a mandate. In addition to work in the state parliament, there is also work in the electoral districts of parliamentarians. In constituency offices, the members of the public can be reached and can personally receive citizens in citizens' office hours. In order to leave room for activities in the constituency, the meeting weeks are designed as compactly as possible, so that work in the constituency accounts for around 40 percent of the year.

    The members of parliament have the right to speak in committees and in plenary sessions, to take part in votes, to put questions to the state government, as well as access to authorities and immediate and complete submission of files. The special rights also include the payment of compensation. According to Article 60 of the state constitution, the members of parliament receive compensation (often referred to as diets - Latin: “daily allowances”) that is appropriate to their responsibility and ensures their independence. The amount is based on the current provisions of the law on representatives. The compensation is currently being adjusted annually, partly in accordance with the development of employee wages in Brandenburg, and partly in accordance with the change in the consumer price index in the federal state (Section 5 of the Law on Representatives). The President of the State Parliament, the Vice President and the parliamentary group chairmen receive an official allowance. In addition to the diets, there are expense allowances that cover the costs incurred by the members of parliament in the exercise of their office. This includes entertainment and equipment for the constituency offices, overnight stays and tickets for the use of the railway in Brandenburg.

    administration

    The Landtag administration is subordinate to the President of the Landtag, whose permanent representative is the Director of Administration. The administration ensures the functionality of the state parliament. The administration staff support the President in preparing the sessions of the State Parliament and the committees and are at the side of all MPs in performing their duties.

    The administration of the Brandenburg State Parliament is divided into two departments, each of which is divided into five sections. The Parliament department includes, among other things, the preparation and follow-up of plenary and committee meetings, advice to the committees, including the petitions committee, by committee speakers, the preparation of shorthand records and European affairs. The Parliamentary Advisory Service that has been set up has a special position within this department. It issues scientific reports on parliamentary and constitutional issues upon request by the President or the parliamentary groups.

    The second department is the administration department, which takes care of the processing of general legal matters and court proceedings, matters of parliamentarians, the personnel matters of civil servants and employees of the state parliament administration as well as the processing of organizational and budgetary questions. In addition, it ensures the internal processes, i.e. is responsible for the functionality of the IT and telephone systems, equipping the offices, as well as guarding and cleaning the building, as well as for public relations, event management, the visitor service and the library.

    Parliament seat

    With the re-establishment of the state of Brandenburg with the German reunification , initially only an unsuitable state parliament building was available, which was then used as such for over 22 years. The resolutions for the urgently needed new building , which was completed in 2013, only followed in 2005 .

    Parliament building

    • Potsdam City Palace, 2015

    • Plenary hall of the state parliament

    The Brandenburg State Parliament has its seat in the Potsdam City Palace .

    In April 2005 the state parliament decided to replace the previous state parliament building in need of renovation with a new building in the architecture and at the location of the former city ​​palace . In February 2006, a feasibility study commissioned by Finance Minister Rainer Speer on a new Landtag building was noted and approved by the Presidium of the Landtag. The city of Potsdam and the state of Brandenburg agreed to start construction in July 2008. In the final vote in the Potsdam City Parliament in November 2006, however, the development plan was rejected twice.

    A majority, believed to be certain, did not come about on both occasions because the parliamentary groups could not agree on the design of the outer facade. The Left Party favored a functional new building, while the Greens were in favor of following the building lines of the former city palace. In January, the Left Party and the Greens had citizens' surveys carried out, which showed that the citizens of Potsdam wanted a state parliament in the historical center of Potsdam with a historical facade.

    In July 2007, the Potsdam City Parliament finally approved the new building, which cost 85 million euros, but it was still unclear to what extent it should be based on Knobelsdorff's example . Six proposals for implementation were submitted via an award procedure carried out between 2006 and 2009. Hasso Plattner said he wanted to donate 20 million euros if the historic facade of the city palace would be restored. The six consortia were then commissioned to submit new design proposals. The aim of the award procedure was to determine and award the most economical overall solution for planning, new construction, financing and operation of the new building within the framework of a public private partnership (PPP). Finance Minister Speer appealed to all interest groups to hold back with further demands, since the debate had "almost assumed hysterical traits". It was decided in September 2009 to erect the state parliament building according to the design by the architect Prof. Peter Kulka .

    Parliament met for the first time on January 22nd, 2014 in the City Palace.

    Originally, a 1.80 meter large eagle made of sheet steel was attached to the front wall of the plenary chamber at the place for the state coat of arms, but according to the ideas of the architect Peter Kulka it was painted white and thus deviated from the mandatory red of the Brandenburg coat of arms eagle. In June 2014, this was therefore removed by a resolution of the state parliament, replaced by a "constitutional" red eagle on the lectern and supplemented with the lettering Landtag Brandenburg . The “white Alder” was installed in the foyer of the building in September 2015, while the red state coat of arms on the lectern was once again enlarged - to around twice the size.

    Former seat

    • Old parliament building on the Brauhausberg, 2008

    • Plenary hall of the old parliament building, 2007 for the open day

    Between 1990 and 2013 the state parliament had its seat in the building of the former Royal Prussian War School on the Potsdamer Brauhausberg . This was previously used as a school for prospective officers until 1914, between 1919 and 1945 as the Reich and Army Archives , from 1948 to 1949 as the Ministry of Finance of the State of Brandenburg and subsequently until 1990 by various regional subdivisions of the SED , which gives the building the popular name " Kremlin ”.

    After reunification, the Brandenburg state parliament declared the building on the Brauhausberg to be the seat of its parliament in January 1991, even though experts ruled out permanent use and it was clear that a new building would be needed in the long term. This was then realized between 2010 and 2013 with the reconstruction of the Potsdam City Palace. First, however, after makeshift construction work, the state parliament moved to the Brauhausberg and held its first session there on September 25, 1991 and its last session on November 22, 2013.

    literature

    • Malte Lübker, Suzanne S. Schüttemeyer: The Brandenburg State Parliament . In: Siegfried Mielke : Land parliamentarism in Germany: history - structures - functions . Pp. 137–168, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8252-8255-4
    • Christiane Büchner, Jochen Franzke: The state of Brandenburg. Small political geography . (PDF; 1.06 MB) 4th revised edition. State Center for Political Education Brandenburg, Potsdam 2005, ISBN 3-932502-09-4
    • President of the Brandenburg State Parliament (ed.): This is how the State Parliament works . Potsdam 2006.
    • President of the Landtag Brandenburg (ed.): Landtag Brandenburg: Names - Dates - Facts. 4th electoral term 2004–2009 . 3. Edition. Potsdam 2007.
    • Council for Sorbian Affairs and Department for Public Relations of the Landtag Brandenburg (Ed.): Council for Sorbian (Wendish) Affairs . o. O. o. J. (leaflet)
    • Markus Vette : On the structure and assumption of political responsibility in representative parliamentary democracy. Experiences and conclusions from the work of the 1st Brandenburg State Parliament (= Uni-Press-Hochschulschriften . Vol. 86). Lit, Münster 1996, ISBN 3-8258-3044-6 .

    Web links

    Commons : Landtag Brandenburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

    Remarks

    1. ↑ The committees meet around ten times as often as the plenary and four times as long. A survey of all members of the Brandenburg State Parliament in the spring of 1999 showed that almost half consider committee work to be “extremely important”, whereas only around a quarter also admitted this to work in plenary.

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ State Returning Officer: State election on September 1st, 2019
    2. ↑ Preview nationwide elections | Brandenburg elections. Retrieved April 9, 2019 .
    3. ↑ Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 138.
    4. ↑ Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 139.
    5. ^ Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 140.
    6. ↑ Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 140f.
    7. ↑ a b c d Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 144.
    8. ^ Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 142.
    9. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 9.
    10. ↑ a b Mechthild Küpper: Platzeck has the choice . In: faz.net, September 28, 2009; accessed September 28, 2009
    11. ↑ Focus.de: Brandenburg: Zwei gegen Platzeck , November 6, 2009.
    12. ↑ http://www.wahlrecht.de/landtage/brandenburg.htm
    13. ^ Election law for the Brandenburg state parliament (Brandenburg State Election Act - BbgLWahlG) in the version of the announcement of January 28, 2004 (GVBl.I / 04, [No. 02], p. 30)
    14. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 157.
    15. ↑ a b President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 147.
    16. ^ Administration of the Landtag Brandenburg: Drucksache 4/8061: Statistical information on the Landtag Brandenburg (PDF; 30 kB).
    17. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 148.
    18. ^ A b President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 153.
    19. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 150.
    20. ^ Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 161.
    21. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 151.
    22. ↑ parldok.brandenburg.de
    23. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 152.
    24. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 159.
    25. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 165.
    26. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 166.
    27. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 167.
    28. ↑ a b c Lübker / Schüttemeyer, 2004, 155
    29. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 168 f.
    30. ↑ Landtag Brandenburg | Technical committees
    31. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2006, 25.
    32. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2006, 26; Council for Sorbian Affairs, n.d. (Flyer)
    33. ↑ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2006, 14 f.
    34. ^ President of the Brandenburg State Parliament , 2007, 162 f.
    35. ↑ Administration . Landtag Brandenburg; accessed March 30, 2008
    36. ↑ Andrea Beyerlein: The shabbiest state parliament in Germany . In: Berliner Zeitung , November 7, 2008
    37. ↑ rbbonline: The long way to the new state parliament.
    38. ↑ The castle debate is taking on hysterical traits . In: Berliner Morgenpost ; Retrieved February 2, 2008
    39. ↑ maerkischeallgemeine.de ( Memento from May 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Retrieved January 9, 2011
    40. ↑ Alexander Fröhlich: The white eagle is taken down in Potsdam. on www.tagesspiegel.de, May 16, 2014. Accessed October 21, 2016.
    41. ↑ Alexander Fröhlich: The Return of the White Eagle at www.pnn.de, September 17, 2015. Accessed October 21, 2016.
    42. ↑ a b History of the Brandenburg State Parliaments . Landtag Brandenburg; Retrieved February 2, 2008
    43. ↑ Relocation to the new domicile - last conference on the Brauhausberg . PNN; accessed November 13, 2013

    Coordinates: 52 ° 23  '40.1 " N , 13 ° 3' 37.1"  E

    This article was added to the list of excellent articles on June 4, 2008 in this version .