Coalition agreement

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A coalition agreement (also coalition agreement ) is concluded between two or more parties in order to regulate the medium to long-term cooperation of a joint coalition government during the upcoming legislative period .

He usually gives an overview of the government program and the most important projects of the future government emerging from the coalition . The parties involved are contractually agreed on personal and material conditions under which they are prepared to jointly form a coalition.

However, coalition agreements are not legally binding contracts in the narrower sense, but ultimately only political declarations of intent or a memorandum of understanding . In this respect, they are not legally enforceable; on the contrary, they are even controversial in terms of democratic theory and constitutional law.

Coalition agreements in Germany

procedure

Coalition agreements are usually negotiated at the beginning of the legislative period by the top politicians of the parties involved (including in particular the party and parliamentary group chairmen) with the participation of senior officials from the ministries and finally signed. In some cases, working groups are set up for specific subject areas in which the relevant specialist politicians negotiate in advance; only contentious issues are then passed on to the party leaders for clarification.

Before actual coalition negotiations can take place, it is often first “probed”; that is, based on the most important factual and personnel issues, explored whether a collaboration is even an option. It is noteworthy that people who later do not sit at the cabinet table also take part in coalition negotiations. The (controversial) coalition committee is a similar body during the government period in which contentious issues relating to the coalition agreement are also clarified .

History of the coalition agreements at the federal level

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For a long time it was not customary for parties to sign a coalition agreement. This was the task of the government declaration , in which the Reich Chancellor or later the Federal Chancellor outlined the planned policy of his government in broad outline. There were also individual agreements between the parties.

Since the parties did not have to support a joint government in the German Empire , a single coalition agreement was only concluded in the Weimar Republic .

The first coalition agreement in the Federal Republic of Germany came about on October 20, 1961, when the partners CDU / CSU and FDP made written agreements. Contrary to the original intention, it was published in newspapers and caused great public unrest. Above all, the coalition committee mentioned in the coalition paper was criticized as a kind of new state body outside of the Basic Law . In 1962, after the crisis surrounding the Spiegel affair , the agreement between the governing parties was renewed. As a result, it was avoided to speak of coalition agreements and coalition committees, but it was clear that the “ Kressbronner Kreis ” represented one for the Kiesinger / Brandt government (named after Kurt Georg Kiesinger's vacation spot in 1967).

On October 20, 1998, the SPD and the Greens agreed on a coalition agreement with the title: “Awakening and Renewal - Germany's Path into the 21st Century”, which was then reissued in 2002. In 2005 the CDU, CSU and SPD signed a coalition agreement entitled “Together for Germany. With courage and humanity. ” The following coalition agreement between the CDU / CSU and FDP for the 17th legislative period was entitled“ Growth. Education. Cohesion. ". The coalition agreement of the 18th legislative period , which was concluded between the CDU / CSU and the SPD in the so-called GroKo , is entitled " Shaping Germany's Future ".

Criticism of coalition agreements, committees and coalitions in general

The criticism of coalition agreements, committees and coalitions in general comes up again and again. Hans-Dietrich Genscher said, for example, that the “coalition principle” had undermined the Chancellor's policy competence and the cabinet principle since 1949. The political scientist Wichard Woyke considered the coalition committee to be a kind of subsidiary government without parliamentary responsibility.

The term “ treaty ” in the coalition agreement is misleading and may have contributed to criticism. It is not a civil law contract, nor is it an objective law, because ought statements, public announcements and recognition by legal doctrine and courts are missing. In this respect, the “coalition agreement” is nothing more than a declaration of intent : the partners will try to get the members of their parliamentary groups to support the government. However , the partners cannot have the votes of the MPs - because of the free mandate ; and thus the partners cannot guarantee that their efforts will be fruitful. Therefore no claim can be made in a coalition agreement , but the different interpretations of the agreement must be resolved politically .

See also

literature

  • Ingo von Münch : Legal and Political Problems of Coalition Governments. Berlin et al. 1993.

Web links

Wiktionary: coalition agreement  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Awakening and Renewal - Germany's Path into the 21st Century. (PDF; 255 KB) Coalition agreement between the Social Democratic Party of Germany and Bündnis 90 / Die GRÜNEN. In: Friedrich Ebert Foundation . October 20, 1998, accessed June 3, 2020 . RENEWAL - JUSTICE - SUSTAINABILITY. For an economically strong, socially and ecological Germany. For a living democracy. (PDF; 311 KB) In: Friedrich Ebert Foundation. October 16, 2002, accessed June 3, 2020 .
  2. ^ "Shaping Germany's future" - the coalition agreement in full. Retrieved December 23, 2013 .
  3. ↑ FAZ, April 21, 2001, p. 2.
  4. ^ Andresen / Woyke: Handwortbuch despolitische Systems , Bonn 1995, p. 253.