The Minister president (''Ministerpräsident'') is the
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
and
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
in thirteen of
Germany's sixteen
states.
In
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, the
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
Bremen (), officially the Free Hanseatic League#Lists of former Hansa cities, Hanseatic City of Bremen (german: Freie Hansestadt Bremen; nds, Free Hansestadt Bremen), is the smallest and least populous of States of Germany, Germany's 16 states. ...
and the
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
the heads of the state hold different titles:
*in Berlin
Governing Mayor (''Regierender Bürgermeister'') (before 1951 Mayor/''Bürgermeister'')
*in Bremen
President of the Senate and Mayor (''Präsident des Senats und Bürgermeister'')
*in Hamburg
First Mayor (''Erster Bürgermeister'').
In the former states of
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
and
Württemberg-Hohenzollern
Württemberg-Hohenzollern (french: Wurtemberg-Hohenzollern ) was a West German state created in 1945 as part of the French post-World War II occupation zone. Its capital was Tübingen. In 1952, it was merged into the newly founded state of Bad ...
, defunct since 1952, the heads of state held the title State President (''Staatspräsident'').
Nevertheless, in Germany, it is common to refer to all sixteen heads of the states as ministers president, if they are referred to collectively. For example, the regular meetings of the sixteen office-holders are called
Conference of Ministers president (''Ministerpräsidentenkonferenz'').
Constitutional roles and powers
As the German constitution (
Basic Law) defines the Federal Republic of Germany as a federation, each German state enjoys sovereignty, limited only by the Basic Law. The Basic Law gives the states a broad discretion to determine their respective state structure, only stating that each German state has to be a social and democratic republic under the rule of law (Article 28.1). In practice all German states have adopted some form of a mixed
parliamentary republican system: Despite some differences between the individual state constitutions, the Ministers president have both typical powers of an executive leader (for example appointing and dismissing cabinet members or defining the political guidelines of the cabinet) and typical powers and functions of a head of state (for example the power to grant pardons on behalf of the state and to perform certain ceremonial duties). As such, their powers and functions resemble those of an
executive president
An executive president is the head of state who exercises authority over the governance of that state, and can be found in presidential, semi-presidential, and parliamentary systems.
They contrast with figurehead presidents, common in most parlia ...
, but in contrast to a
presidential system, they are not directly elected and depend on the confidence of the respective
state parliament. Thus, the constitutional position of a minister president differs from that of the
Chancellor of Germany at the federal level, who only holds the role of a chief executive leader, while the
President of Germany
The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...
performs the more ceremonial powers and functions of the federal head of state.
Even though all sixteen Minister presidents hold roughly the same position in their states, there are also some important differences between the provisions of the state constitutions with regard to the head of state and government. This begins with the election procedure: All Minister presidents are elected by the state parliament, but while in some states a majority of parliament members is needed for a successful election, in other states a simple majority (a plurality of votes cast) is sufficient. The same goes for recall procedures: In some states, the parliament may simply vote an officeholder out of office, while in other states the parliament has to elect a new officeholder at the same time (
Constructive vote of no confidence
The constructive vote of no confidence (german: konstruktives Misstrauensvotum, es, moción de censura constructiva) is a variation on the motion of no confidence that allows a parliament to withdraw confidence from a head of government only if t ...
). In
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, the constitution does not allow a recall of the minister president at all.
In fifteen states, the state constitution defines the minister president as the leader of the cabinet, giving him or her the right, to determine the cabinet's political guidelines, but this is not the case in
Bremen, where the President of the Senate and Mayor only has a ceremonial precedence over the other cabinet members. There are also differences regarding the Minister president power, to shape his or her cabinet: While in some states the office-holder is free to appoint or dismiss cabinet ministers at his or her discretion, in other states there are limits to this power, while the constitution of Bremen does not give the President of the Senate and Mayor any power, to directly influence the composition of his or her cabinet.
By virtue of their position in the ''Bundesrat'', the Minister presidents can exert considerable influence on national politics within the federal structure. Along with several of their ministers, they commonly represent their state in the ''
Bundesrat'' (the German Federal Council). Each state government is represented in the Bundesrat by three to six delegates, depending on the state's population.
Deputies
The Ministers president appoint one (or in some states two) member(s) of their cabinet as their deputies. In most states the deputy of the minister president holds the title ''Deputy Minister President''. Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein have a higher ranking ''First Deputy Minister President'' and a lower ranking ''Second Deputy Minister President''. Bavaria has a higher ranking ''Deputy Minister President'' and a lower ranking ''Additional Deputy Minister President''. Berlin has two equally ranking ''Mayors'' deputizing for the ''Governing Mayor'', while Bremen has a ''Mayor'' deputizing for the ''President of the Senate and Mayor'' and Hamburg has a ''Second Mayor'' deputizing for the ''First Mayor''.
Their duties and functions mirror roughly those of the
Vice Chancellor of Germany
The vice-chancellor of Germany, unofficially the vice-chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (), officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of governm ...
on federal level. Most importantly, the Deputy Minister president (or equivalent) temporarily act as Minister President in case of the office-holder's death or incapacity until the end of the incapacity or the election of a successor by the state parliament. An exception to this are the regulations in the state constitution of Bavaria (Art. 44.3), which designates both the Deputy Minister President (for internal affairs) and the President of the Landtag (for the external representation) as acting successors. Office-holders who resign normally stay in office as acting Ministers President (or equivalent) themselves until a successor is elected. This is however not the case, if the reason for the resignation is some form of constitutional, legal or traditional incompatibility with an office, on which the resigning office-holder has entered: The Basic Law prohibits the President of Germany from holding office in a state government at the same time (Art. 55.1). According to the Federal Constitutional Court Act, the same applies to judges on the Federal Constitutional Court (§ 3.3). Simultaneous membership in the Bundestag or the federal government is not prohibited for a Minister President (or other members of a state government) under federal law, but in some states (for example North Rhine-Westphalia) it is forbidden by the state constitution and generally it is not in line with political tradition. Therefore, office-holders elected or appointed to such office usually resign and refrain from continuing to hold the office of Minister President on an acting basis, leaving that role to their deputy.
[https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/189468/8464d1ab92cf523017d226d478dca83c/2005_11_10-data.pdf ]
Normally, such full replacements last only a few days or even a few hours, but there have also been cases in which such acting Minister president have had to remain in office for a longer period because the election of a new regular incumbent had proved difficult; this occurred for example in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
in 1987/88: The
state election on 13 September 1987 had resulted in a stalemate between the centre-right bloc of CDU and FDP, which supported the incumbent
Uwe Barschel, and the centre-left parties SPD and SSW, each with 37 seats. Due to the weak election results for the CDU and above all the
Barschel affair, a supposed election-fraud scandal, Barschel declared his resignation with effect from 2 October and died a few days later in a hotel in
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
under circumstances that have not been clarified to this day. As a result, the previous deputy
Henning Schwarz became ''acting Minister President''. Attempts to elect a new Minister President in the state parliament failed because of the stalemate, so the parliament dissolved itself and early state elections were held on
8 May 1988. The SPD emerged from these with an absolute majority of seats and its leading candidate
Björn Engholm
Björn Engholm (born 9 November 1939) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was Federal Minister for Education and Science from 1981 to 1982, and in 1982 also Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forests. From 1 ...
was elected Minister President on 31 May. Schwarz thus held office as acting Minister President for 242 days.
List of current office-holders
The longest-serving incumbent office-holder is
Reiner Haseloff
Reiner Haseloff (born 19 February 1954) is a German politician who serves as the Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt. On 9 October 2020, he was elected President of the Bundesrat. His one-year term started on 1 November 2020.
Political career
...
, who has served as the
Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt since 19 April 2011.
Boris Rhein, the
Minister President of Hesse (since 31 May 2022), is the shortest-serving incumbent.
Lists of former Ministers president
Ministers President of Baden-Württemberg (since 1952)
Ministers President of Bavaria (since 1945)
Governing Mayors of Berlin (since 1948, West Berlin until 1990/91)
Ministers President of Brandenburg (since 1990)
Presidents of the Senate and Mayors of Bremen (since 1945)
First Mayors of Hamburg (since 1946)
Ministers President of Hesse (since 1946)
Ministers President of Lower Saxony (since 1946)
Ministers President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (since 1990)
Ministers President of North Rhine-Westphalia (since 1946)
Ministers President of Rhineland-Palatinate (since 1946)
Ministers President of Saarland (since 1947, joined the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957)
Ministers President of Saxony (since 1990)
Ministers President of Saxony-Anhalt (since 1990)
Ministers President of Schleswig-Holstein (since 1946)
Ministers President of Thuringia (since 1990)
Defunct states
State Presidents of
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
(1947–1952)
Ministers President of
Württemberg-Baden
Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. ...
(1945–1952)
State Presidents of
Württemberg-Hohenzollern
Württemberg-Hohenzollern (french: Wurtemberg-Hohenzollern ) was a West German state created in 1945 as part of the French post-World War II occupation zone. Its capital was Tübingen. In 1952, it was merged into the newly founded state of Bad ...
(1945–1952)
Trivia
The office of a minister president is both highly prestigious in its own right and acts as a potential "career springboard" for German politicians.
Three out of twelve
Presidents of Germany have been head of a state before becoming President:
*
Richard von Weizsäcker, Governing Mayor of Berlin (1981–1984)
*
Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician ( SPD). He was the president of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 20 September 1978 to 9 June 1998. In th ...
, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia (1978–1998)
*
Christian Wulff
Christian Wilhelm Walter Wulff (; born 1959) is a retired German politician and lawyer who served as President of Germany from 2010 to 2012. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he previously served as minister president of the ...
, Minister President of Lower Saxony (2003–2010)
One out of 13
Presidents of the Bundestag has been head of a state before becoming President:
*
Kai-Uwe von Hassel
Kai-Uwe von Hassel (21 April 1913 – 8 May 1997) was a German politician from Schleswig-Holstein associated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein from 1954 to 1963, as Federal Minister ...
, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein (1954–1963)
Five out of nine
Chancellors of Germany
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the G ...
have been head of a state before becoming Chancellor:
*
Kurt-Georg Kiesinger, Minister President of Baden-Württemberg (1958–1966)
*
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...
, Governing Mayor of West-Berlin (1957–1966)
*
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
, Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate (1969–1976)
*
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...
, Minister President of Lower Saxony (1990–1998)
*
Olaf Scholz, First Mayor of Hamburg (2011–2018)
One out of ten
Presidents of the Federal Constitutional Court has been head of a state before becoming President:
*
Gebhard Müller, State President of Württemberg-Hohenzollern (1948–1952), Minister President of Baden-Württemberg (1953–1958)
Many more Ministers President went on to become members of the
federal government,
EU institutions
The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union:
* the European Parliament,
* the European Council ...
or associate judges of the
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its in ...
for example.
The three longest serving office-holders were:
*
Peter Altmeier, Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate (1947–1969, 21 years, 314 days)
*
Franz-Josef Röder, Minister President of Saarland (1959–1979, 20 years, 64 days)
*
Wilhelm Kaisen
Carl Wilhelm Kaisen (22 May 1887 – 19 December 1979) was a German politician from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who served as the 2nd President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 1945 to 1965. In 1958/59 he served as the 10th ...
, President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen (1945–1965, 19 years, 354 days)
The three shortest serving office-holders were:
*
Thomas Kemmerich
Thomas Karl Leonard Kemmerich (born 20 February 1965) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the Minister President of Thuringia from 5 February to 4 March 2020. With a tenure of only 28 days, he was both the sho ...
, Minister President of Thuringia (2020, 28 days)
*
Heinrich Welsch
Heinrich Welsch (born 13 October 1888 in Saarlouis – died 23 November 1976 in Saarbrücken) was a politician but not a member of a political party. He was Minister President of Saarland in 1955 and 1956.
Life and career up to World War II
F ...
, Minister President of Saarland (1955–1956, 73 days)
*
Erich Vagts, President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen (1945, 90 days)
There have been eight female heads of a German state:
*
Heide Simonis, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein (1993–2005)
*
Christine Lieberknecht
Christine Lieberknecht (born Determann 7 May 1958 in Weimar) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 2009 to 2014, she served as the Minister President of Thuringia. Lieberknecht was the first woman to become head o ...
, Minister President of Thuringia (2009–2014)
*
Hannelore Kraft
Hannelore Kraft (''née'' Külzhammer; born 12 June 1961) is a German politician. She served as the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 until 2017. Kraft was the first woman to serve as head of government of this state and was ...
, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia (2010–2017)
*
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK, is a retired German politician who served as Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from ...
, Minister President of Saarland (2011–2018)
*
Malu Dreyer
Marie-Luise "Malu" Dreyer (born 6 February 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has served as the 8th and current Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate since 13 January 2013. She is the first woman to hold th ...
, Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate (incumbent since 2013)
*
Manuela Schwesig
Manuela Schwesig (' Frenzel, born 23 May 1974) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party serving as Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since 4 July 2017. She is the first woman to serve as head of government of this state. P ...
, Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (incumbent since 2017)
*
Franziska Giffey
Franziska Giffey (, Süllke, born 3 May 1978) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Governing Mayor of Berlin since December 2021, the first woman elected to this position. She previously served as ...
, Governing Mayor of Berlin (incumbent since 2021)
*
Anke Rehlinger
Anke Gabriele Rehlinger (''né'' Moos; born 6 April 1976) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has served as the Minister-President of Saarland since 25 April 2022. After her party won the 2022 state elect ...
, Minister President of Saarland (incumbent since 2022)
One person has managed to become Minister President of two different states, which did not merge into one another:
*
Bernhard Vogel, Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate (1976–1988) and Minister President of Thuringia (1992–2003)
Two persons have been Ministers President of two states before and after they had merged into one another:
*
Reinhold Maier
Reinhold Maier (16 October 1889 – 19 August 1971) was a German politician and the leader of the FDP from 1957–1960. From 1946 to 1952 he was Minister President of Württemberg-Baden and then the 1st Minister President of the new s ...
, Minister President of Württemberg-Baden (1945–1952), Minister President of Baden-Württemberg (1952–1953)
*
Gebhard Müller, State President of Württemberg-Hohenzollern (1948–1952), Minister President of Baden-Württemberg (1953–1958)
So far, there has been already one Minister President from a recognized national minority:
Stanislaw Tillich
Stanislaw Tillich (; hsb, Stanisław Tilich; born 10 April 1959) is a German politician of the CDU. He served as the 3rd Minister President of Saxony from 2008 to 2017. From 1 November 2015 until 31 October 2016, he was President of the Bund ...
, who served as Minister President of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
between 2008–2017, is of
Sorbian origin and speaks
Sorbian and German as his mother tongue.
David McAllister
David James McAllister (born 12 January 1971) is a German politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party. He is the current Vice Pre ...
, who served as the Minister President of Lower Saxony between 2010–2013, has been the first office-holder with dual nationality (Germany and
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
).
The vast majority former ministers president have been members of Germany's two biggest political parties, the center-right
CDU (or, in Bavaria, its sister party
CSU) and the center-left
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been t ...
. However, all german parties currently represented in the Bundestag, apart from the
AfD, have at least once provided a minister president.
Alliance 90/The Greens:
*
Winfried Kretschmann
Winfried Kretschmann (born 17 May 1948) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2011. A member of the Alliance '90/Greens, he was President of the Bundesrat and ''ex officio'' deputy to the President of ...
, Minister President of Baden-Württemberg (since 2011)
Free Democratic Party of Germany
The Free Democratic Party (german: link=no, Freie Demokratische Partei; FDP, ) is a liberal political party in Germany.
The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties which existed in Germany before World War II, ...
(FDP):
*
Reinhold Maier
Reinhold Maier (16 October 1889 – 19 August 1971) was a German politician and the leader of the FDP from 1957–1960. From 1946 to 1952 he was Minister President of Württemberg-Baden and then the 1st Minister President of the new s ...
, Minister President of
Württemberg-Baden
Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. ...
(1945–1952), Minister President of Baden-Württemberg (1952–1953)
*
Thomas Kemmerich
Thomas Karl Leonard Kemmerich (born 20 February 1965) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the Minister President of Thuringia from 5 February to 4 March 2020. With a tenure of only 28 days, he was both the sho ...
, Minister President of Thuringia (2020)
The Left:
*
Bodo Ramelow
Bodo Ramelow (; born 16 February 1956) is a German politician who has served since 4 March 2020 as Minister-President of Thuringia, an office he previously held from 2014 to 5 February 2020. He is the first head of a German state government to ...
, Minister President of Thuringia (2014–2020 and since 2020)
See also
*
Ministerpräsident (Prussia)
References
{{Reflist
*
Government of Germany
Politics of Germany
Federalism by country
Lists of political office-holders in Germany
States of Germany-related lists