The Bundestag (, "Federal
Diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
") is the German
federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
or the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came in ...
(, ) in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany and thus it is the historical successor to the earlier
Reichstag.
The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their electorate. The minimum legal number of members of the Bundestag (german: link=no, Mitglieder des Bundestages) is 598; however, due to the system of
overhang and
leveling seats the current 20th Bundestag has a total of 736 members, making it the largest Bundestag to date and the largest freely elected national parliamentary chamber in the world.
The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens aged 18 or over. Elections use a
mixed-member proportional representation system which combines
first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
elected seats with a
proportional party list to ensure its composition mirrors the
national popular vote. An early election is only possible in the cases outlined in Articles 63 and 68 of the
''Grundgesetz''.
The Bundestag has several functions. It is the chief legislative body on the federal level. The individual states (
Bundesländer) of Germany participate in legislative process through the
Bundesrat, a separate assembly. The Bundestag also elects and oversees the
chancellor, Germany's
head of government
The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, ...
, and sets the
government budget.
Since 1999, it has met in the
Reichstag building in Berlin. The Bundestag also operates in multiple new government buildings in Berlin and has its own
police force
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
(the
''Bundestagspolizei''). The current
president of the Bundestag
The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker in other countries. In the German orde ...
since 2021 is
Bärbel Bas
Bärbel Bas (; born 3 May 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has served as the President of the Bundestag since 2021. She has been a member of the German Bundestag since the federal election in 2009. She served ...
of the
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 ...
. The 20th Bundestag has five vice presidents and is the most visited parliament in the world.
History
![Reichstag, Berlín, Alemania, 2016-04-21, DD 46-48 HDR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Reichstag%2C_Berl%C3%ADn%2C_Alemania%2C_2016-04-21%2C_DD_46-48_HDR.jpg)
Bundestag translates as "Federal Diet", with "" (cognate to English "bundle") in this context meaning federation, and "" (day) came to mean "meeting in conference" — another example being (similar to "diet", which is from Latin "", day).
With the dissolution of the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
in 1866 and the founding of the
German Empire (
German Reich
German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...
) in 1871, the
Reichstag was established as the German parliament in Berlin, which was the capital of the then
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
(the largest and most influential state in both the Confederation and the empire). Two decades later, the current parliament building was erected. The Reichstag delegates were elected by direct and equal male suffrage (and not the
three-class electoral system prevailing in Prussia until 1918). The Reichstag did not participate in the appointment of the chancellor until the parliamentary reforms of October 1918. After the
Revolution of November 1918 and the establishment of the
Weimar Constitution, women were given the right to vote for (and serve in) the Reichstag, and the parliament could use the
no-confidence vote
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
to force the chancellor or any cabinet member to resign. In 1933,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
was appointed chancellor and through the
Reichstag Fire Decree
The Reichstag Fire Decree (german: Reichstagsbrandverordnung) is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State (german: Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat) issued by Germ ...
, the
Enabling Act of 1933 and the death of President
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fr ...
in 1934, gained unlimited power. After this, the Reichstag met only rarely, usually at the
Kroll Opera House
The Kroll Opera House (german: Krolloper, Kroll-Oper) in Berlin, Germany, was in the Tiergarten district on the western edge of the '' Königsplatz'' square (today ''Platz der Republik''), facing the Reichstag building. It was built in 1844 as ...
to unanimously rubber-stamp the decisions of the government. It last convened on 26 April 1942.
With the
new constitution of 1949, the Bundestag was established as the new West German parliament. Because
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
was not officially under the jurisdiction of the constitution, a legacy of the
Cold War, the Bundestag met in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
in several different buildings, including (provisionally) a former waterworks facility. In addition, owing to the city's legal status, citizens of West Berlin were unable to vote in elections to the Bundestag, and were instead represented by 22 non-voting delegates chosen by the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, the city's legislature.
The
Bundeshaus in Bonn is the former parliament building of Germany. The sessions of the German Bundestag were held there from 1949 until its move to Berlin in 1999. Today it houses the International Congress Centre Bundeshaus Bonn and in the northern areas the branch office of the
Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), which represents the – the federated states. The southern areas became part of German offices for the United Nations in 2008.
The former
Reichstag building housed a history exhibition () and served occasionally as a conference center. The Reichstag building was also occasionally used as a venue for sittings of the Bundestag and its committees and the
Federal Convention, the body which elects the German federal president. However, the Soviets harshly protested against the use of the Reichstag building by institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany and tried to disturb the sittings by flying supersonic jets close to the building.
Since 19 April 1999, the German parliament has again assembled 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 ...
in its original Reichstag building, which was built in 1888 based on the plans of German architect
Paul Wallot
Johann Paul Wallot (26 June 1841 Oppenheim am Rhein – 10 August 1912 Bad Schwalbach) was a German architect of Huguenot descent, best known for designing the Reichstag building in Berlin, erected between 1884 and 1894. He also built the adjacent ...
and underwent a significant renovation under the lead of British architect
Lord Norman Foster
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or a ...
. Parliamentary committees and subcommittees, public hearings and parliamentary group meetings take place in three auxiliary buildings, which surround the Reichstag building: the and .
In 2005, a small aircraft crashed close to the German Parliament. It was then decided to ban private air traffic over Central Berlin.
Tasks
Together with the
Bundesrat, the Bundestag is the
legislative branch
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
of the
German political system.
Although most legislation is initiated by the executive branch, the Bundestag considers the legislative function its most important responsibility, concentrating much of its energy on assessing and amending the government's legislative program. The committees (see below) play a prominent role in this process.
Plenary sessions
A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference which all members of all parties are to attend. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily related to a specific style ...
provide a forum for members to engage in public debate on legislative issues before them, but they tend to be well attended only when significant legislation is being considered.
The Bundestag members are the only federal officials directly elected by the public; the Bundestag in turn elects the
chancellor and, in addition, exercises oversight of the executive branch on issues of both substantive policy and routine administration. This check on executive power can be employed through binding legislation, public debates on government policy, investigations, and direct questioning of the chancellor or cabinet officials. For example, the Bundestag can conduct a question hour (), in which a government representative responds to a written question previously submitted by a member. Members can ask related questions during the question hour. The questions can concern anything from a major policy issue to a specific constituent's problem. Use of the question hour has increased markedly over the past forty years, with more than 20,000 questions being posed during the 1987–90 term. The opposition parties actively exercise their parliamentary right to scrutinize government actions.
Constituent services also take place via the Petition Committee. In 2004, the Petition Committee received over 18,000 complaints from citizens and was able to negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution to more than half of them. In 2005, as a pilot of the potential of
internet petition
An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. T ...
s, a version of
e-petitioner
E-petitioner is an online petition system developed in Scotland, characterised by its integration into the processes of representative democracy. It allows citizens to raise and sign a petition, read background information on the issue, and add c ...
was produced for the Bundestag. This was a collaborative project involving The
Scottish Parliament,
International Teledemocracy Centre
The International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC) was established at Edinburgh Napier University in 1999. The centre is dedicated to researching innovative E-democracy systems that will strengthen public understanding and participation in democratic ...
and the Bundestag 'Online Services Department'. The system was formally launched on 1 September 2005, and in 2008 the Bundestag moved to a new system based on its evaluation.
Electoral term
![Chart Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany EN](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Chart_Basic_Law_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany_EN.svg)
The Bundestag is elected for four years, and new elections must be held between 46 and 48 months after the beginning of its
electoral term, unless the Bundestag is dissolved prematurely. Its term ends when the next Bundestag convenes, which must occur within 30 days of the election.
Prior to 1976, there could be a period where one Bundestag had been dissolved and the next Bundestag could not be convened; during this period, the rights of the Bundestag were exercised by a so-called "Permanent Committee".
Election
Germany uses the
mixed-member proportional representation system, a system of
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
combined with elements of
first-past-the-post voting
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
. The Bundestag has 598 nominal members, elected for a four-year term; these seats are distributed between the sixteen German states in proportion to the states' population eligible to vote.
Every elector has two votes: a constituency vote (first vote) and a party list vote (second vote). Based solely on the first votes, 299 members are elected in
single-member constituencies
A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vot ...
by first-past-the-post voting. The second votes are used to produce a proportional number of seats for parties, first in the states, and then on the federal level. Seats are allocated using the
Sainte-Laguë method. If a party wins fewer constituency seats in a state than its second votes would entitle it to, it receives additional seats from the relevant state list. Parties can file lists in every single state under certain conditions – for example, a fixed number of supporting signatures. Parties can receive second votes only in those states in which they have filed a state list.
If a party, by winning single-member constituencies in one state, receives more seats than it would be entitled to according to its second vote share in that state (so-called
overhang seat
Overhang seats are constituency seats won in an election under the traditional mixed member proportional (MMP) system (as it originated in Germany), when a party's share of the nationwide votes would entitle it to fewer seats than the number of ...
s), the other parties receive compensation seats. Owing to this provision, the Bundestag usually has more than 598 members. The 20th and current Bundestag, for example, has 736 seats: 598 regular seats and 138 overhang and compensation seats. Overhang seats are calculated at the state level, so many more seats are added to balance this out among the different states, adding more seats than would be needed to compensate for overhang at the national level in order to avoid
negative vote weight
Negative vote weight (also known as ''inverse success value'') refers to an effect that occurs in certain elections where votes can have the opposite effect of what the voter intended. A vote for a party might result in the loss of seats in parlia ...
.
To qualify for seats based on the party-list vote share, a party must either win three single-member constituencies via first votes (basic mandate clause) or exceed a
threshold of 5% of the second votes nationwide. If a party only wins one or two single-member constituencies and fails to get at least 5% of the second votes, it keeps the single-member seat(s), but other parties that accomplish at least one of the two threshold conditions receive compensation seats.
In the most recent example of this, during the
2002 election, the
PDS
PD, P.D., or Pd may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''People's Democracy'' (newspaper), weekly organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
* ''The Plain Dealer'', a Cleveland, Ohio, US newspaper
* Post Diaspora, a time frame in the ''Honorverse'' ...
won only 4.0% of the second votes nationwide, but won two constituencies in the state of
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 same applies if an independent candidate wins a single-member constituency,
which has not happened since the
1949 election.
If a voter cast a first vote for a successful independent candidate or a successful candidate whose party failed to qualify for proportional representation, their second vote does not count toward proportional representation. However, it does count toward whether the elected party exceeds the 5% threshold.
Parties representing recognized national minorities (currently
Danes,
Frisians,
Sorbs
Sorbs ( hsb, Serbja, dsb, Serby, german: Sorben; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are a indigenous West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Saxony and Branden ...
, and
Romani people
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...
) are exempt from both the 5% threshold and the basic mandate clause, but normally only run in state elections.
The only party that has been able to benefit from this provision so far on the federal level is the
South Schleswig Voters' Association, which represents the minorities of Danes and Frisians 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 ...
and managed to win a seat in
1949 and
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
.
Latest election result
The latest federal election was held on Sunday, 26 September 2021, to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag.
List of Bundestag by session
Presidents since 1949
Membership
Organization
Parliamentary groups
The most important organisational structures within the Bundestag are
parliamentary group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council.
Parliamenta ...
s (''Fraktionen''; sing. ''Fraktion''). A parliamentary group must consist of at least 5% of all members of parliament. Members of parliament from different parties may only join in a group if those parties did not run against each other in any German state during the election. Normally, all parties that surpassed the 5%-threshold build a parliamentary group. The
CDU and
CSU have always formed a
single united ''Fraktion'' (CDU/CSU), which is possible, as the CSU only runs in the state of
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 ...
and the CDU only runs in the other 15 states. The size of a party's ''Fraktion'' determines the extent of its representation on committees, the time slots allotted for speaking, the number of committee chairs it can hold, and its representation in executive bodies of the Bundestag. The ''Fraktionen'', not the members, receive the bulk of government funding for legislative and administrative activities.
The leadership of each ''Fraktion'' consists of a parliamentary party leader, several deputy leaders, and an executive committee. The leadership's major responsibilities are to represent the ''Fraktion'', enforce party discipline and orchestrate the party's parliamentary activities. The members of each ''Fraktion'' are distributed among
working group
A working group, or working party, is a group of experts working together to achieve specified goals. The groups are domain-specific and focus on discussion or activity around a specific subject area. The term can sometimes refer to an interdis ...
s focused on specific policy-related topics such as social policy, economics, and foreign policy. The ''Fraktion'' meets every Tuesday afternoon in the weeks in which the Bundestag is in session to consider legislation before the Bundestag and formulate the party's position on it.
Parties that do not hold 5% of the Bundestag-seats may be granted the status of a ''Gruppe'' (literally "group", but a different status from ''Fraktion'') in the Bundestag; this is decided case by case, as the rules of procedure do not state a fixed number of seats for this. Most recently, this applied to the
Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) from 1990 to 1998. This status entails some privileges which are in general less than those of a ''Fraktion''.
Executive bodies
The Bundestag's executive bodies include the
Council of Elders and the
Presidium
A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one.
Communist states
In Communist states the presid ...
. The council consists of the Bundestag leadership, together with the most senior representatives of each ''Fraktion'', with the number of these representatives tied to the strength of the Parliamentary groups in the chamber. The council is the coordination hub, determining the daily legislative agenda and assigning committee chairpersons based on Parliamentary group representation. The council also serves as an important forum for interparty negotiations on specific legislation and procedural issues. The Presidium is responsible for the routine administration of the Bundestag, including its clerical and research activities. It consists of the chamber's president (usually elected from the largest ''Fraktion'') and vice presidents (one from each ''Fraktion'').
Committees
Most of the legislative work in the Bundestag is the product of standing committees, which exist largely unchanged throughout one legislative period. The number of committees approximates the number of federal ministries, and the titles of each are roughly similar (e.g., defense, agriculture, and labor). There are, as of the current nineteenth Bundestag, 24 standing committees. The distribution of committee chairs and the membership of each committee reflect the relative strength of the various Parliamentary groups in the chamber. In the current nineteenth Bundestag, the
CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (german: Unionsparteien, ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian-democratic political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Soc ...
chaired ten committees, the
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 ...
five, the
AfD and the
FDP three each,
The Left and the
Greens two each. Members of the opposition party can chair a significant number of standing committees (e.g. the budget committee is by tradition chaired by the biggest opposition party). These committees have either a small staff or no staff at all.
Administration
The members of Bundestag and the presidium are supported by the Bundestag Administration. It is headed by the Director, that reports to the President of the Bundestag.
The Bundestag Administrations four departments are Parliament Service, Research, Information / Documentation and Central Affairs.
The Bundestag Administration employs around 3,000 employees.
Principle of discontinuation
As is the case with some other parliaments, the Bundestag is subject to the ''principle of discontinuation'', meaning that a newly elected Bundestag is legally regarded to be a body and entity completely different from the previous Bundestag. This leads to the result that any motion, application or action submitted to the previous Bundestag, e.g. a bill referred to the Bundestag by the Federal Government, is regarded as void by non-decision (German terminology: "''Die Sache fällt der Diskontinuität anheim''"). Thus any bill that has not been decided upon by the beginning of the new electoral period must be brought up by the government again if it aims to uphold the motion, this procedure in effect delaying the passage of the bill. Furthermore, any newly elected Bundestag will have to freshly decide on the rules of procedure (''Geschäftsordnung''), which is done by a formal decision of taking over such rules from the preceding Bundestag by reference.
Any Bundestag (even after a snap election) is considered dissolved only once a newly elected Bundestag has actually gathered in order to constitute itself (Article 39 sec. 1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law), which has to happen within 30 days of its election (Article 39 sec. 2 of the Basic Law). Thus, it may happen (and has happened) that the old Bundestag gathers and makes decisions even after the election of a new Bundestag that has not gathered in order to constitute itself. For example, elections to the 16th Bundestag took place on 18 September 2005, but the 15th Bundestag still convened after election day to make some decisions on German military engagement abroad, and was entitled to do so, as the newly elected 16th Bundestag did not convene for the first time until 18 October 2005.
See also
*
German governing coalition
In Germany's federal electoral system, a single party or parliamentary group rarely wins an absolute majority of seats in the Bundestag, and thus coalition governments, rather than majority governments, are the usually expected outcome of a Germa ...
*
Parliamentwatch
Parliamentwatch () is an Internet portal that allows German citizens to question their representatives in the German parliament (the Bundestag) publicly. The independent, nonpartisan site aims to increase transparency in government and deepen Ger ...
References
Informational notes
Citations
External links
*
German election databaseMap of constituenciesPlenary speech search engine
{{coord, 52, 31, 07, N, 13, 22, 34, E, display=title, source:nlwiki
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...