The president of the Bundestag (german: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or ) presides over the sessions of the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal 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 or the House of Comm ...
, the federal parliament of
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 betwee ...
, with functions similar to that of a
speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** In ...
in other countries. In the
German order of precedence, the office is ranked second after the
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
and before the
chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
.
The current office-holder is
Bärbel Bas (
SPD), who was elected during the first session of the 20th Bundestag on 26 October 2021.
Election and customs
The president of the Bundestag is elected during the constituent session of each election period after the
federal elections or in a later session, if the office has fallen vacant, by all members of the Bundestag. The president has to be a member of the Bundestag. Until the election of the president, the session is chaired by the
father of the House
Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously ...
, the so-called ''Alterspräsident''. Since 2017, this has been the longest serving member of the Bundestag; in 1949-2017, it was the oldest member of the Bundestag by age.
[Deutscher Bundestag]
The Bundestag's constituent sitting
Usually, the president of the Bundestag is a member of the largest parliamentary group. This
constitutional convention had emerged already in times of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...
, but this is not required by law. The term ends with the election period, and there is no provision for an early removal. The term of the president can only end prematurely if they resign the position, leaves the Bundestag or dies. They can be reelected in the next election period provided they become a member of the Bundestag again.
Traditionally, the president of the Bundestag is elected uncontested. The only exception so far has been in 1954 after the unexpected death of
Hermann Ehlers
Hermann Ehlers (1 October 1904 – 29 October 1954) was a German politician. He was the 2nd President of the Bundestag from 19 October 1950 to 29 October 1954.
He was a member of the Christian Democratic Union.
Early life
Ehlers was born in ...
.
Ernst Lemmer competed with the "official"
CDU/
CSU
CSU may refer to:
* Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card
* Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code
* Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation
* Christian Social ...
candidate,
Eugen Gerstenmaier, and lost after three ballots with a difference of 14 votes (204 for Gerstenmaier, 190 for Lemmer, 15 abstentions).
Presidium of the Bundestag
The president of the Bundestag has several deputies, the vice presidents of the Bundestag ( or ), who are supplied by the other parliamentary groups. The number of vice presidents was not fixed in the Bundestag's ''Geschäftsordnung'' (
rules of order
Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or ...
) until 1994, when it was decided that each parliamentary group should be represented by at least one vice president.
However, no
AfD candidate for vice president has been elected for the
20th Bundestag. There is some controversy over this
cordon sanitaire imposed against the
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
AfD, but the
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany has ruled that even though the rules of order of the Bundestag give the AfD the right to a Vice-Presidential post, there is no obligation for any given member of the Bundestag to vote for any given candidate for Vice-President of the Bundestag and the office requires election by a majority vote of the Bundestag. Together, the president and the vice presidents make up the
Presidium of the Bundestag
The Presidium of the Bundestag is responsible for the routine administration of the Bundestag, including its clerical and research activities. The presidium consists of the President of the Bundestag and a variable number of Vice Presidents, curr ...
.
In the current 20th Bundestag, the vice presidents are:
*
Aydan Özoğuz (SPD)
*
Yvonne Magwas (CDU/CSU)
*
Katrin Göring-Eckardt (
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen
Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...
)
*
Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP)
*
Petra Pau (
Die Linke
The Left (german: Die Linke; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party (german: Die Linkspartei, links=no ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of th ...
)
Legal background
The legal foundation for the office i
Article 40of the
Basic Law which states that the Bundestag elects a president and vice presidents and is to give itself rules of order. Due to a 1952
Federal Constitutional Court
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 ...
decision, the ''Geschäftsordnung'' has to be enacted afresh in every election period, but usually the old rules are reenacted without change.
[ Deutscher Bundestag]
Erläuterungen zur Geschäftsordnung
The ''Geschäftsordnung'' specifies the duties of the president of the Bundestag and his vice presidents as well as their number.
Duties
The president's most important duty is to chair the sessions of the Bundestag. The president determines the order of speakers and opens and closes the debates, and ensures that debates take place in an orderly fashion.
[Deutscher Bundestag]
In the case of grave disruption, they may exclude a member of parliament for up to 30 session days.
[Deutscher Bundestag]
All draft legislation initiated by the Federal Government, the Bundestag or the
Bundesrat is addressed to the president, as well as all submissions and petitions from within or addressed to the Bundestag. The president of the Bundestag also chairs the
Council of Elders, which manages the internal affairs of the Bundestag.
[Deutscher Bundestag]
Council of Elders
For the election of a new
Federal president, the president of the Bundestag convenes and chairs the
Bundesversammlung.
[Deutscher Bundestag]
The Federal Convention
Additionally, the president receives the statements of account of the political parties, monitors party financing and regulates campaign cost reimbursement. The president also has police power over the premises of the parliament and oversees its police force, can veto any
search and seizure
Search and seizure is a procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems by which police or other authorities and their agents, who, suspecting that a crime has been committed, commence a search of a person's property and confisca ...
there to protect the independence of the parliament,
[ Deutscher Bundestag]
Gesetzliche Grundlage
für die Polizei beim Bundestag and acts as the employer of the Bundestag's public servants.
List of presidents
Political parties
Books
Michael F. Feldkamp (ed.), ''Der Bundestagspräsident. Amt - Funktion - Person.'' 16. Wahlperiode, München 2007,
References
{{Authority control
Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal 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 or the House of Comm ...