Prime Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia is at the head of the executive branch of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . As head of state and government , he is actually and legally the dominant person in the political system of North Rhine-Westphalia . The relevant legal basis for his office is the constitution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia .
Since June 27, 2017, Armin Laschet ( CDU ) has been the eleventh Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is the successor to Hannelore Kraft ( SPD ), the first woman in this office.
Election and discharge
The prime minister is elected by the state parliament in a secret ballot without debate with a majority of the members. The Prime Minister must be a member of the state parliament . If there is no absolute majority in the first ballot, in the second and third ballots it is sufficient to collect more than half of the votes cast. Abstentions and invalid votes do not count towards the votes cast. The second ballot and a possible third ballot must take place within 14 days of the first ballot. If no one is elected in the third ballot either, there will be a runoff between the two nominees with the highest number of votes. With two exceptions, the Prime Minister has always been elected in the first ballot, only the re-election of Franz Meyers on July 25, 1966 and the election of Hannelore Kraft on July 14, 2010 only took place in the second ballot.
Since absolute majorities of individual parties are relatively rare in the state parliament due to the electoral law, a government coalition is usually formed in the state parliament , which has a majority of members and supports the government's policy by approving laws proposed by the state government. In practice, a member of the state parliament of the strongest coalition party is elected as Prime Minister. The Prime Minister can be voted out of office with a simple majority through a constructive vote of no confidence . So far there have been two successful constructive votes of no confidence (1956 and 1966). The state government must resign if it submits a law that the state parliament has rejected to vote and this is rejected. The Prime Minister can also resign voluntarily at any time. If a new Landtag meets after a Landtag election, the Prime Minister's term of office is also deemed to have ended. The legislative period is usually five years. In all these cases, however, the constitution stipulates that the previous prime minister and the previous ministers must continue to run the business until a new prime minister is elected or re-elected.
The people have no direct influence on the election of the Prime Minister, but only indirectly through the representatives elected in the state elections. In practice, the parties elect “ top candidates ” in the run-up to the state elections , of which the top candidate of the largest coalition partner is usually elected Prime Minister after a successful coalition formation. The focus of the state election campaign is therefore always the top candidates, especially the larger parties.
Position and duties
Together with his state ministers , the prime minister forms the state government . He appoints and dismisses the state ministers of his cabinet at his own discretion. According to the constitution, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia has the authority to issue guidelines . The state ministers manage their ministries according to the departmental principle . In practice, the state ministers are appointed by the parties of the government coalition in proportion to their size in the state parliament. Due to the division of the government into the resort as well as the mostly necessary coalition to form a government (see coalition agreement ), the Prime Minister does not have unlimited authority to issue guidelines in practice, but must also take into account the political ideas of the (smaller) coalition partner or partners. The state parliament has far-reaching control over the government over the possibility of constructive no-confidence votes and, for example, the approval of the government's draft budget. Overall, the relationship between the Prime Minister and the legislature reveals the principle of entanglement of powers , which is essential to the formulation of the state constitution.
Most state authorities are indirectly subordinate to the Prime Minister. The state ministries are also the highest state authorities. These include the higher state authorities (state-wide competent authorities, e.g. the state criminal investigation office), including the state middle authorities (authorities located at the district governments), including the lower state authorities (e.g. the district police authorities). The tasks of the lower and middle state authorities are partly also carried out by organs of local self-government, e.g. B. the district administrators or the municipal associations. The state government controls the state authorities through the selection of civil servants, ordinances and general supervision. But some technical autonomy enjoy the so-called supreme state authorities such as the more controlled by the state assembly state audit and the largely autonomous Constitutional Court for North Rhine-Westphalia , to the extent this occurs as the authority in appearance; From a technical point of view, this is subject to judicial independence, like all courts in the state. To a limited extent, however, the government or the Ministry of Justice is involved in filling the courts and thus also in filling three of the seven judges' posts at the Constitutional Court.
The Prime Minister or the entire government participates in the legislature by submitting bills to the state parliament. Since in practice the government relies on an appropriate coalition, this right of initiative is important. In practice, on the other hand, the possibility of submitting bills rejected by the Landtag to the people for a referendum is hardly significant. However, if this proposal is complied with by the people, the state government can dissolve the state parliament so that a new state parliament election takes place.
The state government largely represents the state in the federal government. To this end, the state government sends six representatives to the Bundesrat who are members of the state government according to Article 51 of the Basic Law. Since the federal states have to vote together in the Bundesrat, it is customary in coalition governments for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to only approve an application if the coalition partners are in agreement on this issue. In the event of disagreement, the country abstains from the vote, which is tantamount to a no vote in the Federal Council. The policy authority of the Prime Minister is then irrelevant.
First and foremost, as shown, the Prime Minister is an executive organ and only has a limited role in the legislature and, through the Ministry of Justice, in the judiciary. Since he represents the country externally and signs state treaties and state laws, the Prime Minister is also the de facto head of state of the state, which, like all states of the Federal Republic, is a subject under international law with rights limited by the Basic Law of the Federal Republic.
The Prime Minister is ex officio holder of the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia .
Deputy
The Prime Minister appoints a member of the state government to represent him and notifies the state parliament of this (Art. 52 Para. 3 LV). In the case of a coalition government, he usually selects a minister from the coalition partner. In the rules of procedure of the state government required by the constitution ( rules of procedure of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia (GOLR) of June 1, 2005 ), the representation is specified in more detail in paragraph 4.
State Chancellery
The State Chancellery supports the Prime Minister in his office. The state chancellery is located in the state house in the government district of Düsseldorf .
See also
- List of the Prime Ministers of North Rhine-Westphalia
- State government of North Rhine-Westphalia
- List of the Prime Ministers of the German states
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Löwer, Peter J. Tettinger: Commentary on the Constitution of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2002, p. 815
- ↑ The second important opportunity for the state to participate in the state as a whole is to send representatives to the Federal Assembly . The choice of representatives is not at the discretion of the state government, but is largely determined by the number of inhabitants of the state, the composition of the state parliament and the people proposed by the parties represented there.
- ^ Law on the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia of March 11, 1986 . See § 4.