Parliamentary control

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The parliamentary control is the continuous control of executive state power through the people's representatives ( parliament ) and is an integral part of the political system democratically organized States.

requirements

Parliamentary control initially requires a separation of powers . Legislation and the formulation of essential state issues are the sole responsibility of parliament, while the implementation of such decisions is entrusted to the government and administration , and they are equally controlled by independent courts . In addition to the separation of functions and persons in the exercise of state power abuse of power and power accumulation can be avoided by the fact that the mutual control various distinct powers entanglements ( " checks and balances ") are implemented.

In this area of ​​responsibility, parliamentary control denotes both a certain degree of dependence of the government on parliament, which can be personal or objective, as well as politically effective instruments for accompanying executive work:

  • Comprehensive right to information regarding decisions and projects of the government and administration as well as regarding the implementation of parliamentary resolutions
  • Government members can be quoted and questioned in front of parliament at any time
  • Budget law, mandatory approval of government decisions by parliament on certain key issues such as foreign policy, defense, secret services, etc. Execution issues, principle of the parliamentary army
  • Enquête right
  • Right to investigate legal violations, grievances and undesirable circumstances, which can be carried out by a parliamentary committee ( committee of inquiry ), in a court-like procedure or by commissioning an investigator
  • Election and removal of the government, vote of no confidence, commitment to the government, simple parliamentary resolution

Parliamentary control in the Federal Republic

Opposite the chain of legitimation is the chain of responsibility and control

The control of the executive is responsible in Germany at the federal level (for the country level is considered equivalent) originally the German Bundestag , who as in the parliamentary system of government only directly legitimized by the people organ the beginning of the chain of legitimacy forms. This chain of legitimation runs counter to the chain of responsibility and control: for example, the Federal Chancellor is elected and thus legitimized by the Bundestag, but is also responsible to it (the Bundestag has the instrument of the constructive vote of no confidence at its disposal as an instrument of sanction ) and is controlled by it.

In addition to the Bundestag itself, its auxiliary bodies (such as the Commissioner for the Armed Forces) and other external bodies (such as the Federal Audit Office as an independent body of state financial control) also perform control functions. See below.

Control for the common good and for the good of individuals

According to the principle of democracy , which proceeds from the people as a whole, parliamentary control in the narrower sense only serves the common good .

However, there is also a need for parliamentary control for the benefit or in the interests of individuals ( volonté particulière as opposed to volonté générale ); for example from the right of petition ( Art. 17 GG ), the substitution of legal recourse in the event of interference by the executive with the fundamental right to the inviolability of the home ( Art. 13.1 GG in conjunction with Art. 19.4 GG) Intervention by the executive in the secrecy of letters , mail and telecommunications ( Art. 10 Para. 1 GG in conjunction with Art. 19 Para. 4 GG), substitution in the event that the executive refuses to provide information on one's own personal data ( fundamental right informational self-determination , Art. 2 Para. 1 GG in conjunction with Art. 1 Para. 1 GG) or substitution in the event that the executive is denied access to information that has become generally accessible sources due to the Freedom of Information Act ( Art. 5 Para . 1, sentence 1, 2nd Hs. GG).

Constitution and Constitutional Reality

In constitutional reality, the control provided by the constitution is mostly the control of the government by the parliamentary opposition , since the government usually emerges from the parliamentary majority ( governing coalition ) and the parties responsible for governing have no interest in being in power politics Harming senses themselves. So it is less the parliament / government dualism, but rather the opposition / government dualism.

Control instruments and institutions

The core of the parliamentary right of control is the right of quotation ( Article 43.1 of the Basic Law) and the right to interpellate . From the right of interpellation guided in the Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag (GOBT) differentiated positivised control instruments of the survey by the Federal Government ( § 106 , the two GOBT para.) Question Time ( § 105 GOBT) and the little ones ( § 104 GOBT) and large request (§ § 100  ff. GOBT). Depending on the provisions of the provisions, both the Bundestag as a plenary session, its committees or individual members of the Bundestag can make use of these instruments .

In addition, the parliamentary committees of inquiry (PUA) , which is designed as minority law, exist from Article 44 of the Basic Law and that of the Defense Committee as an inquiry committee from Article 45a, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law.

Other institutions with control rights are, for example, the control bodies ( parliamentary control body , body pursuant to Section 23c (8) Customs Investigation Act and body pursuant to Article 13 (6 ) of the Basic Law ) or the bodies outside the Bundestag , the Defense Commissioner of the German Bundestag , the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information and the Federal Audit Office , which is either the Legislative can be assigned or at least cannot be assigned to one of the other powers.

The control instruments can be divided into three categories:

Range

The range is to be assessed differently depending on the administration

The scope of parliamentary control is to be assessed differently depending on the administration .

In the realm of the federal government and direct state administration, the control extends furthest. The limit arises here from the principle of separation of powers and protects the core area of ​​executive personal responsibility (e.g. the administrative decision-making process).

In the area of indirect state administration, control usually extends as far as state supervision over the respective legal person . Special protection can arise here, for example, for universities from the freedom of science ( Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law) or for public broadcasters from the freedom of broadcasting ( Article 5, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law).

How far parliamentary control over public companies extends is controversial.

Activity reports

The various institutions regularly publish activity reports .

See also

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