President of the Federal Council (Germany)

President of the Federal Council
Standard of the President of the Federal Council with the federal eagle
Acting Federal Council President Dietmar Woidke since November 1, 2019
Official seat	Prussian mansion , Berlin , Germany
Term of office	1 year
Chairman of	Federal Council
Elected by	Federal Council
Previous state	Schleswig-Holstein (2018-2019)
Current state	Brandenburg (since 2019)
Next state	Saxony-Anhalt (from 2020)
Salutation	Mr. President or Madam President, (only in the Bundesrat)
Deputy of	Federal President
Deputy	First Vice President of the Federal Council (regular predecessor of the current President)
	Second Vice President of the Federal Council (designated successor to the current President)
website	www.bundesrat.de

The President of the Bundesrat (or Bundesrat President for short ) presides over the Bundesrat , one of the permanent constitutional organs of the Federal Republic of Germany . The President of the Federal Council is also the Federal President's deputy . In Germany there is no protocol-based ranking that describes the position of the President of the Bundesrat. However, it has emerged from practice that in terms of protocol it usually represents the fourth highest state office in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Federal President, the President of the Bundestag and the Federal Chancellor.

According to the constitution, the President must be a member of the Federal Council . According to an internal agreement, the office of President rotates annually between the heads of government of the 16 German states .

Comparable offices before 1949

In the German constitutional history from 1867, the representations of the member states did not elect a president. Instead, the respective constitution stipulated that a member of the federal government presided over the body. In the North German Confederation and in the Empire , the Federal Chancellor or Reich Chancellor was chairman of the Federal Council without having a seat and a vote in it. In practice, however, the chancellors were mostly members of the Federal Council, as representatives of Prussia .

In the Weimar Republic , according to the Weimar Constitution, a member of the Reich government chaired the Reichsrat (or initially the State Committee ). Usually this was the Reich Minister of the Interior .

choice

According to Article 52 (1) of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany , the Bundesrat elects its President for a period of one year. Only those who, as a member of a state government, are also a member of the Bundesrat can be elected (Section 5 (1) of the Bundesrat's rules of procedure ). According to the Königstein Agreement of August 30, 1950, a head of government is elected President of the Federal Council every year in the order of decreasing population numbers.

The term of office of a president began on September 7th of each year; this time was also the beginning of the Federal Council's financial year . In 1957, the beginning of the Federal Council President's term of office was postponed to November 1, as the Governing Mayor of Berlin Otto Suhr ( SPD ), who had already been elected President, died before taking office. In order not to let any vacancies arise in the presidency, the incumbent Federal Council President , First Mayor and President of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg Kurt Sieveking (CDU), was initially confirmed in office by the members of the Federal Council, and finally on November 1, 1957 to hand over the office to the newly elected Governing Mayor of Berlin Willy Brandt (SPD).

Competencies

Convening of the Federal Council and chairing Federal Council meetings

The President convenes the Federal Council ( Article 52, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law). He chairs the meetings of the Bundesrat and prepares them (§§ 20, 15 Rules of Procedure of the Bundesrat). The President represents the Federal Republic of Germany in all matters of the Bundesrat. It is the highest service authority for civil servants of the Bundesrat (§ 6 Rules of Procedure of the Bundesrat).

Two vice-presidents are elected together with the president. In the past, the number of Vice-Presidents was higher: a third Vice-President was elected between 1950 and 2007, and a fourth Vice-President was elected between 1950 and 1956. Together, the President and Vice-President form the Presidium of the Bundesrat (Section 8 Rules of Procedure of the Bundesrat). The First Vice President is the regular predecessor of the current President, the Second Vice President is the designated successor of the current President. The Vice-Presidents represent the President if he is unable to attend or if his office is terminated prematurely. In particular, they are appointed to represent as long as the President of the Federal Council exercises the powers of the Federal President in accordance with Article 57 of the Basic Law.

Representation of the Federal President

If the Federal President is prevented from exercising his office - for example due to illness, loss of freedom, a longer stay abroad or bias - the Federal Council President temporarily exercises the powers of the Federal President. If the Federal President dies in office or resigns from his position, the Federal Council President will also take over the official duties of the Federal Council for the period of the vacancy (until the new Federal President is elected by the Federal Assembly , which must first be formed and officially convened) in accordance with Article 57 of the Basic Law Federal President.

In terms of representation, the President of the Federal Council has all the powers of the Federal President without the need to swear in. If the President of the Federal Council is also prevented from exercising his office, he will also be represented in his capacity as representative of the Federal President by his Vice-President.

So far, the President of the Federal Council has exercised the powers of the Federal President over a longer period in three cases:

• From September 7, 1949 until the election of the first Federal President Theodor Heuss by the 1st Federal Assembly on September 12, 1949, the first Federal Council President, Karl Arnold (CDU), served as provisional head of state.
• After the resignation of Federal President Horst Köhler on May 31, 2010, Federal Council President Jens Böhrnsen (SPD) took over the powers of the Federal President until the election of the new Federal President Christian Wulff by the 14th Federal Assembly on June 30, 2010.
• This situation occurred again after the resignation of Federal President Christian Wulff on February 17, 2012, during which Federal Council President Horst Seehofer (CSU) took over the official duties of the head of state until Joachim Gauck was elected as the new Federal President by the 15th Federal Assembly on March 18, 2012 has been.

Election cycle

The head of government of the country holding the presidency of the Bundesrat is elected President of the Bundesrat. The sequence of the federal states starts with the most populous state (North Rhine-Westphalia) and ends with the least populous state (Bremen). This procedure was laid down in the Königstein Agreement in 1950 . Due to the persistently strong internal migration in Germany, the specific order of the countries has been changed several times. Most recently, on December 12, 2013 at the Prime Minister's Conference in Berlin, the order of the countries for the financial years 2017/2018 to 2032/2033 was decided.

The previous and future rotation of the states that provide the Federal Council President is as follows:

North Rhine-Westphalia	1949/1950	1960/1961	1971/1972	1982/1983	1994/1995	2010/2011	2026/2027
Bavaria	1950/1951	1961/1962	1972/1973	1983/1984	1995/1996	2011/2012	2027/2028
Baden-Württemberg	1952/1953	1962/1963	1973/1974	1984/1985	1996/1997	2012/2013	2028/2029
Lower Saxony	1951/1952	1963/1964	1974/1975	1985/1986	1997/1998	2013/2014	2029/2030
Hesse	1953/1954	1964/1965	1975/1976	1986/1987	1998/1999	2014/2015	2030/2031
Saxony					1999/2000	2015/2016	2031/2032
Rhineland-Palatinate	1954/1955	1965/1966	1976/1977	1987/1988	2000/2001	2016/2017	2032/2033
Berlin	1957/1958	1967/1968	1978/1979	1989/1990	2001/2002	2017/2018	2033/2034
Schleswig-Holstein	1955/1956	1966/1967	1977/1978	1988/1989	2005/2006	2018/2019
Brandenburg					2004/2005	2019/2020
Saxony-Anhalt					2002/2003	2020/2021
Thuringia					2003/2004	2021/2022
Hamburg	1956/1957	1968/1969	1979/1980	1990/1991	2007/2008	2022/2023
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania				1991/1992	2006/2007	2023/2024
Saarland	1959/1960	1969/1970	1980/1981	1992/1993	2008/2009	2024/2025
Bremen	1958/1959	1970/1971	1981/1982	1993/1994	2009/2010	2025/2026

Acting Presidium of the Federal Council

The current President of the Federal Council is the Prime Minister of Brandenburg Dietmar Woidke ( SPD ). He was elected the new President of the Federal Council on October 11, 2019 and then took up this office on November 1, 2019.

First Vice-President of the Federal Council is the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein Daniel Günther ( CDU ), second Vice-President the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff (CDU).

statistics

The first woman in this office was the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hannelore Kraft ( SPD ), who held the office from November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2011.

Several Federal Council presidents held other important state or party offices before, during or after their term of office; a selection:

• The later Federal President Johannes Rau (SPD, Federal Council President 1982/1983 and 1994/1995).
• The later Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt (SPD, President of the Federal Council 1957/1958), Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU, 1962/1963) and Gerhard Schröder (SPD, 1997/1998).
• The later Federal Ministers Kai-Uwe von Hassel (CDU, President of the Federal Council 1955/1956), Willy Brandt (SPD, 1957/1958), Gerhard Stoltenberg (CDU, 1977/1978), Oskar Lafontaine (SPD, 1992/1993), Hans Eichel ( SPD, 1998/1999) and the former Federal Ministers Franz Josef Strauss (CSU, 1983/1984), Walter Wallmann (CDU, 1987), Björn Engholm (SPD, 1988/1989) and Horst Seehofer (CSU, 2011/2012).
• The later President of the German Bundestag Kai-Uwe von Hassel (CDU, President of the Bundesrat 1955/1956), who was thus the only politician who presided over both the Bundesrat and the Bundestag as President.
• The future judge at the Federal Constitutional Court Peter Müller (CDU, President of the Federal Council 2008/2009).
• The later CDU chairman Kurt Georg Kiesinger (President of the Federal Council 1962/1963).
• The former CSU chairmen Franz Josef Strauss (Federal Council President 1983/1984) and Horst Seehofer (2011/2012) as well as the later CSU chairman Edmund Stoiber (1995/1996).
• The later SPD chairmen Willy Brandt (Federal Council President 1957/1958), Björn Engholm (1988/1989), Oskar Lafontaine (1992/1993), Gerhard Schröder (1997/1998), Kurt Beck (2000/2001) and Matthias Platzeck (2004 / 2005).

Seven heads of government have served as Federal Council presidents twice:

• Hans Ehard (CSU), Bavarian Prime Minister , 1950/1951 and 1961/1962
• Georg-August Zinn (SPD), Hessian Prime Minister , 1953/1954 and 1964/1965
• Peter Altmeier (CDU), Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate , 1954/1955 and 1965/1966
• Franz-Josef Röder (CDU), Prime Minister of Saarland , 1959/1960 and 1969/1970
• Hans Koschnick (SPD), Mayor and President of the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen , 1970/1971 and 1981/1982
• Bernhard Vogel (CDU), Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate , 1976/1977 and 1987/1988
• Johannes Rau (SPD), Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia , 1982/1983 and 1994/1995

The office of Federal Council President has so far been exercised by politicians from five different parties :

• CDU , for the first time with Karl Arnold (1949/1950)
• CSU , for the first time with Hans Ehard (1950/1951)
• SPD , for the first time with Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf (1951/1952)
• FDP , so far once with Reinhold Maier (1952/1953)
• Alliance 90 / The Greens , so far unique with Winfried Kretschmann (2012/2013)

A Federal Council President has changed three times in the current financial year:

• On May 15, 1987, the newly elected Hessian Prime Minister Walter Wallmann (CDU) succeeded his predecessor Holger Börner (SPD), who left the Hessian state government and thus from the Federal Council on April 24, 1987 , also in the office of Federal Council President.
• On May 15, 1992, the newly elected Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Berndt Page (CDU) was elected as the new President of the Federal Council. His predecessor Alfred Gomolka (CDU) left the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on March 19, 1992 and thus left the Federal Council.
• On April 30, 1999, the newly elected Hessian Prime Minister Roland Koch (CDU) replaced his predecessor Hans Eichel (SPD), who had left the Hessian state government and thus from the Federal Council on April 7, 1999 , as Federal Council President .

various

According to the order on the German flags , the President of the Federal Council wields the federal service flag in the size 30 × 30 cm on company vehicles ; the vice-presidents carry them on company vehicles measuring 25 × 25 cm.

Since 1990, the country holding the Federal Council Presidency has hosted the central celebrations for the Day of German Unity . Since 2006, 2 euro coins with motifs from the host federal state have also been produced.

See also

• Königstein Agreement
• List of presidents of the German Bundesrat
• Political system of Germany
• President of the Federal Council (Austria)

Web links

Commons : President of the Federal Council  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• President of the Federal Council since 1949 on bundesrat.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ Election of the President of the Federal Council. (PDF; 804 KB) In: Report No. 182, 1957. Bundesrat, 6 September 1957, pp. 775–776 , accessed on 13 January 2017 . 
2. ↑ Bodo Pieroth, in: Hans D. Jarass, Bodo Pieroth: Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Comment. 11th edition, CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-60941-1 , Article 57 marginal numbers 1 and 2.
3. ↑ TOP 3: Update of the Federal Council presidencies for the financial years 2017/2018 to 2032/2033. (PDF; 1.5 MB) In: Template 16/1541: Conference of the heads of government of the federal states on December 12, 2013 in Berlin - minutes of the results. State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, January 10, 2014, pp. 14–15 , accessed on December 24, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Order on the German flags of November 13, 1996. (PDF; 589 KB) In: Bundesgesetzblatt 1996 Part I No. 59. Federal Ministry of Justice, November 20, 1996, pp. 1729–1732 , accessed on January 13, 2017 .