Federal Council Initiative
By means of a Bundesrat initiative , the federal states in Germany have the opportunity to influence federal legislation and politics through the Bundesrat . In this context, the application of a single Land is often referred to as a Federal Council initiative, and not just a draft law passed by the Federal Council plenum.
Legislative initiatives
In addition to the Federal Government and the members of the Bundestag, the Federal Council has the right to initiate legislation, i. H. the possibility of introducing bills to the German Bundestag. If the Bundesrat passes a bill, the Federal Government must submit it to the Bundestag within six weeks. The latter has to deliberate and take a decision within a reasonable period of time. Of the 100 bills passed by the Federal Council as a draft law for the 16th legislative period , only 19 have been passed , drawn up by the Federal President and announced in the Legal Gazette. However, the rejected Federal Council initiatives also receive a certain political attention and their concerns are sometimes fully or partially incorporated into later federal government bills.
The Federal Council can also forward templates to the Federal Government for the issue of statutory ordinances and thus request them to issue or amend statutory ordinances. This right has existed since the constitutional reform of 1994.
Resolutions
In addition to the legislative initiatives in the actual sense, motions for resolutions are also regularly referred to as Federal Council initiatives and listed accordingly in the lists of the federal states.
Like any parliament, the Federal Council can pass resolutions or resolutions, even if this is not expressly regulated in the Basic Law. The aim of resolutions and resolutions is to influence the responsible decision-making bodies or the public and to provide impetus. Resolutions are passed in order to clearly define the position of the Federal Council, but also to induce the Federal Government to initiate initiatives or to draw attention to omissions. The Federal Government is often the addressee of the resolutions of the Federal Council, as these draft bills can work out, act executive or exert influence at the European level. However, the Bundesrat is free to address its demands directly to the German Bundestag, the European Commission or other institutions.
Others
The Basic Law also recognizes other rights of initiative of the Federal Council, such as the presidential charge, voting rights and the right to make proposals. In practice, these have little political significance or are exercised on the basis of consensus procedures and are therefore hardly associated with the concept of the Federal Council initiative.
Web links
- List of the current Federal Council initiatives of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate
- List of the current Federal Council initiatives of the State of Hesse
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article 76.1 of the Basic Law
- ↑ Art. 76, Paragraph 3, Sentence 5, Basic Law
- ↑ Overall statistics of the Federal Council administration, page 4 (PDF; 61 kB)
- ↑ Article 80 (3) of the Basic Law
- ↑ see the examples in the web links
- ^ Lexicon of the Federal Agency for Civic Education
- ↑ Handbook of the Federal Council for the 2009/2010 financial year, page 23 above