The
German Bundesrat (literally "federal council") is
a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder (federal states) of Germany
at the
federal level. It has its seat at the former Prussian House
of Lords
in Berlin
.
The Bundesrat co-decides about federal laws that afflict
Länder competences, but German constitution commentators
do not consider it a parliament or a chamber of the parliament.
The only
federal parliament in Germany is the Bundestag
. Nonetheless foreign commentators tend to
compare it to
upper houses such as the
U.S. Senate or the House of Lords
in the UK
.
Composition
The composition of the Bundesrat is different from other
legislative bodies representing states (such as the
Russian Federation Council or
the U.S. Senate). Firstly, its members are not elected – either by
popular vote or by the state parliaments – but are normally members
of the state cabinets, which appoint them and can remove them at
any time. Normally, a state delegation is headed by the respective
minister-president. Secondly, the
states are not represented by an equal number of delegates, since
the population of the respective state is a factor, as the
following table shows.
What the table actually shows is the number of
votes each
state has in the Bundesrat, so the votes cast are not the votes of
the delegates, but of the state. The state cabinet then
may appoint as many delegates as the state has votes, but
is under no obligation to do so; it can restrict the state
delegation even to one single delegate. However, this does not
affect the influence of the respective state in the Bundesrat, due
to its unusual voting system (see below). Anyway, this system of
unequal representation, although designed to reflect Land
populations more accurately than equal representation would, in
fact still affords greater representation per inhabitant to the
smaller states. Since state elections are not coordinated across
Germany and can occur at any time, the majority distributions in
the Bundesrat can change after any such election.
The number of votes a state is allocated is based on a form of
degressive
proportionality. It is based on the size of each state's
population, but is not strictly proportional, so that smaller
states have more votes than their population alone would justify.
The allocation of votes is regulated by the
German
constitution (
Grundgesetz). Every state is allocated
at least three votes. But states with more than:
- 2 million inhabitants have 4 votes.
- 6 million inhabitants have 5 votes.
- 7 million inhabitants have 6 votes.
Voting
In contrast to many other legislative bodies, the delegates to the
Bundesrat from any one state are required to cast the votes of the
state as a bloc (since the votes are not those of the respective
delegate). Furthermore, it is possible (and quite customary) that
only one of the delegates (the
Stimmführer or "leader of
the votes"-—normally the minister-president) casts all votes the
respective state has, even if the other members of the delegation
are present. Because
coalition
governments are very common in state governments, states
frequently choose to
abstain if their
coalition cannot agree on a position.
This is a compromise only on first sight because every decision of
the Bundesrat requires an absolute majority of the votes of all
states, abstaining means, in effect, casting a nay vote. Conflict
between delegation members may lead to a split vote, which
invalidates the respective state's entire vote, equally rendering a
nay. The delegates (or their leader) are not allowed to reconsider
and cast a unanimous vote.
During a vote on an bill on citizenship in
2002, the Brandenburg
delegation split, due to such a conflict among the
coalition partners. This caused much controversy and ultimately,
the law was declared void by the Bundesverfassungsgericht
since without the votes from Brandenburg, the
bill had not received a majority.
Presidency
The
chairperson or speaker is the President of the Bundesrat
(Bundesratspräsident), who is 4th in the German order of
precedence after the Federal President, the Bundestag President,
the Chancellor and before the President of the Federal
Constitutional Court
.
By tradition, the presidency rotates annually among the
minister-presidents of each of the
federal
Länder (states).
The President of the Bundesrat convenes and chairs plenary sessions
of the body and is formally responsible for representing the
Federal Republic in the Bundesrat. He or she is aided by three
vice-presidents who play an advisory role and deputise in the
president's absence. The four together make up the Bundesrat's
executive committee.
Organizational structure
Because the Bundesrat is so much smaller than the Bundestag, and
also because it is more or less an organized cooperation of Land
governments rather than a real parliament, it does not require the
extensive organizational structure of the Bundestag. The Bundesrat
typically schedules plenary sessions once a month for the purpose
of voting on legislation prepared in committee. In comparison, the
Bundestag conducts about fifty plenary sessions a year. The voting
Bundesrat delegates themselves rarely attend committee sessions;
instead, they delegate that responsibility to civil servants from
their ministries, as allowed for in the Basic Law. The delegates
themselves tend to spend most of their time in their state
capitals, rather than in the federal capital. The delegations are
supported by the
Landesvertretungen, which function
basically as
embassies of the states in the
federal capital.
Tasks
The legislative authority of the Bundesrat is subordinate to that
of the Bundestag, but it nonetheless plays a vital legislative
role. The federal government must present all its legislative
initiatives first to the Bundesrat; only thereafter can a proposal
be passed to the Bundestag. Further, the Bundesrat must approve all
legislation affecting policy areas for which the Basic Law grants
the Länder concurrent powers and for which the Länder must
administer federal regulations. The Bundesrat has increased its
legislative responsibilities over time by successfully arguing for
a broad, rather than a narrow, interpretation of what constitutes
the range of legislation affecting Land interests. In 1949, only 10
percent of all federal laws, namely, those directly affecting the
Länder, required Bundesrat approval. In 1993 close to 60 percent of
federal legislation required the Bundesrat's assent. The Basic Law
also provides the Bundesrat with an absolute veto of such
legislation. Constitutional changes require a majority of 2/3 of
all votes, thus giving the Bundesrat an absolute veto against
constitutional change.Against all other legislation the Bundesrat
has a suspensive veto, which can be overridden by passing the law
again. As an added provision, a law vetoed with a majority of 2/3
must be passed again with a majority of 2/3 in the Bundestag.If the
absolute veto is used, the Bundesrat, the Bundestag, or the
government can convene a joint committee to negotiate a compromise.
That compromise cannot be amended and both chambers (Bundesrat and
Bundestag) are required to hold a final vote on the compromise as
is.The political power of the absolute veto is particularly evident
when the opposition party or parties in the Bundestag have a
majority in the Bundesrat, which was the case almost constantly
between 1991 and 2006. Whenever this happens, the opposition can
threaten the government's legislative program. Such a division of
authority can complicate the process of governing when the major
parties disagree, and, unlike the Bundestag, the Bundesrat cannot
be dissolved under any circumstances. Such stalemates are not
unlike those that may be experienced under
cohabitation in other
countries.
Criticism
Some observers emphasize that different majorities in the two
chambers ensure that all legislation, when approved, has the
support of a broad political spectrum--a particularly valuable
attribute in the aftermath of unification, when consensus on
critical policy decisions is vital. The formal representation of
the Länder in the federal government through the Bundesrat provides
an obvious forum for the coordination of policy between the Länder
and the federal government. The need for such coordination,
particularly given the specific, crucial needs of the eastern
Länder, has become only more important.
It could also be argued that the Bundesrat serves as a control
mechanism on the Bundestag in the sense of a system of
checks and balances. Since the
executive and legislative functions are closely intertwined in any
parliamentary system, the Bundesrat's ability to revisit and slow
down legislative processes could be seen as making up for that loss
of separation.
Other observers claim that the opposing majorities lead to an
increase in backroom politics, where small groups of high-tier
leaders make all the important decisions and the Bundestag
representatives have a choice only between agreeing with them or
not getting anything done at all. The German "Federalism
Commission" was looking into this issue, among others. There have
been frequent suggestions of replacing the Bundesrat with a
US-style elected Senate, which would be elected at the same date as
the Bundestag. This is hoped to increase the institution's
popularity, reduce Land bureaucracy influence on legislation, make
opposing majorities less likely, make the legislative process more
transparent, and generally set a new standard of democratic, rather
than bureaucratic leadership. It remains to be seen if existing
party leaderships are willing to support such a step.
History
The German
Bundesrat was first founded, together with the German Empire
, in 1871, replacing a body of the same name and
with the same functions in the North German
Confederation
. With the Weimar Constitution
, it was replaced in 1919 by the Reichsrat (1919-1934).
The delegates to the original Bundesrat as those to the Reichsrat,
while appointed by the state governments just as today, usually
were high-ranking civil servants, not cabinet members. The original
Bundesrat was very powerful: Every bill needed its consent, making
it a second chamber equal to the popularly elected
Reichstag.
The Reichsrat had at least
de jure considerably less
influence, since it could only veto bills and even then be
overruled by the Reichstag. But overruling the Reichsrat needed a
majority of two-thirds in the Reichstag, and the Reichstag was
splintered into many parties and frequently dissolved. So in most
cases a bill vetoed by the Bundesrat effectively died because there
were not enough votes in the Reichstag to overrule the veto.
In 1871, the original members were:
|
State
|
Notes
|
Votes
|-
| Prussia
|
|
17
|-
| Bavaria
|
|
6
|-
| Saxony
|
|
4
|-
| Württemberg
|
|
4
|-
| Baden
|
|
3
|-
| Hesse
|
|
3
|-
| Alsace-Lorraine
|
from 1911 it was a Reichsland
|
3
|-
| Mecklenburg-Schwerin
|
|
2
|-
| Brunswick
|
|
2
|-
| 17 other small states
|
each with 1 vote
|
17
|-
| Total
|
|
61
Current composition
Compostion of the Bundesrat
(coalitions in the Länder) since 10th November 2009
See also
References
- The Bundesrat is referred to here as the second
chamber of the German parliament, but this designation is disputed
by some.
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