State Secretary (civil servant)
A Secretary of State ( StS ) is in Germany, the official title for the highest status law office that a civil servant in his civil service can achieve. The State Secretary represents the minister within the ministry in his function as head of the authority , has the highest position below political leadership and has the right to give instructions to the employees of the department. If there are several state secretaries in a ministry, their competencies are delimited from one another and usually relate to the competencies of certain ministerial departments.
To distinguish it from the Parliamentary State Secretary at the federal level, who is not a civil servant but, like the Minister, is in a public-law office , the State Secretaries are sometimes referred to colloquially as " Official State Secretaries ".
Federation
There are posts for state secretaries only in the highest federal authorities . Most of the state secretaries work in the federal ministries ; one ( BMU ) to five ( BMI ) state secretaries with civil servant status per ministry. There are currently around 31 state secretaries in the federal government; in 2014 there were 28 and 25 in 2013.
The employment relationship of the State Secretary is based on the provisions of the Federal Civil Service Act . He is basically a civil servant for life . His employment relationship is fundamentally independent of the term of office of his superior minister.
State Secretary outside the federal ministries
The "Head of the Office of the Federal President " is a State Secretary. In terms of protocol , he is the highest-ranking (civil servant) State Secretary. He heads the office of the Federal President and is responsible for the activities of the employees who report to him. At the same time he is the first advisor to the Federal President . The State Secretary of the Office of the Federal President has the right to participate in cabinet meetings of the Federal Government . He has observer status at the meetings of the Federal Security Council .
Since January 1, 2008, the director of the German Bundestag has been a state secretary. Before that, the current job title was also his official title . The director at the German Bundestag is not the representative of the President of the German Bundestag . These are only his deputies elected from among the members of the Bundestag .
The director of the Federal Council has the office of State Secretary.
In the Federal Chancellery , the Federal Intelligence Officer is a State Secretary. The government spokesman , who heads the Federal Government's Press and Information Office , is also State Secretary.
Remuneration
The basic salary in salary group B 11 for state secretaries in the federal government has been 14 594.79 euros per month since April 1, 2019 [outdated] . In addition, there is a so-called ministerial allowance of 552.76 euros . In addition to the state secretaries, only the office of President of the Federal Audit Office is assigned to salary group B 11.
Temporary retirement
State secretaries, as so-called political officials, can be put into temporary retirement at any time without giving reasons ( Section 54 BBG ). This mainly happens when there is a change of government or minister.
In the years 2003 to 2007, 45 civil servants were put into temporary retirement at the federal level. The officers were between 40 and 64 years old. 17 of these 45 civil servants who have taken temporary retirement belong to salary group B 11 with a monthly basic salary of around 10,000 euros at that time and 25 to salary group B 9 with a monthly basic salary of around 8,500 euros. In October 2006 a total of 71 civil servants are said to have been in temporary retirement at the federal level; According to the taxpayers' association, they should have received pension payments totaling 3.4 million euros in 2006.
countries
In the city-states of Hamburg and Bremen , the official designation of the top officials of the senatorial authorities is State Council instead of "State Secretary". In Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg , the ministerial director is the minister's representative in administrative matters instead of a state secretary. There is also, but not in all ministries in both countries, the “(Political) State Secretary” as the Minister's representative in political matters (corresponds to the Parliamentary State Secretary at federal level).
literature
- Ulrike Schmidt, Jana Hechel: The legal status of state secretaries in the federal states . Ed .: Landtag Brandenburg, Parliamentary Advisory Service. Potsdam 2015 ( PDF ).
Web links
- What does a Parliamentary State Secretary do? And what is the difference to a permanent state secretary? In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . March 16, 2018, accessed October 23, 2019 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Answer of the Federal Government to the small question of the MPs Sven-Christian Kindler, Ekin Deligöz, Anja Hajduk, other MPs and the parliamentary group BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN - printed matter 18/417 - number of state secretaries and the representatives of the new federal government (printed matter 18/570). In: German Bundestag - 18th electoral term. February 19, 2014, accessed October 28, 2019 (p. 2).
- ^ Head of the Office of the Federal President. In: bundespraesident.de. Retrieved October 23, 2019 .
- ^ Organization plan of the Federal Council Secretariat. (PDF) In: bundesrat.de. January 1, 2019, accessed October 23, 2019 .
