The German

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of importance applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. For individuals, it is most often used for diplomats in attendance at very formal occasions. It can also be used in the context of ...

is a symbolic hierarchy of the highest federal offices in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

used to direct protocol. It has no official status, but has been established in practical use. It consists of the holders or chairs of the five permanent constitutional bodies of the Federation. # The

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

, the head of state of Germany. # The

President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag ( or ; Grammatical gender in German#Professions, when the office is held by a man) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker (poli ...

, the speaker of the German parliament, the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

. # The

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...

, the head of the government of Germany. # (1.) The President of the Bundesrat, the speaker of the Bundesrat, a federal legislative chamber, in which the governments of the sixteen German states are represented. The president of the Bundesrat is ''ex officio'' also deputy to the

(''Basic Law'', Article 57), thus becomes first in the order, while acting on behalf of the President or while acting as head of state during a vacancy of the presidency. # The President of the Federal Constitutional Court, the supreme court of Germany.

Current office-holders

Living former office-holders

The order of precedence is also observed with respect to former office-holders in some cases, for example if they participate in official ceremonies as honoured guests.

Former Presidents of Germany

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 of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he previously ...

(2010–2012) *

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany. During the P ...

(2012–2017)

Former Presidents of the Bundestag

* Rita Süssmuth (1988–1998) * Wolfgang Thierse (1998–2005) * Norbert Lammert (2005–2017) * Bärbel Bas (2021–2025)

Former Chancellors of Germany

Gerhard Schröder Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...

(1998–2005) * Angela Merkel (2005–2021) * Olaf Scholz (2021–2025)

Former Presidents of the Bundesrat

* Björn Engholm (1988–1989) * Walter Momper (1989–1990) * Berndt Seite (1992) * Oskar Lafontaine (1992–1993) * Klaus Wedemeier (1993–1994) * Edmund Stoiber (1995–1996) *

Erwin Teufel Erwin Teufel (born 4 September 1939, in Zimmern ob Rottweil) is a German politician of the CDU. Political career Teufel was the leader of the CDU parliamentary group in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg from 1978 to 1991. Teufel was Minis ...

(1996–1997) *''

(1997–1998)'' * Hans Eichel (1998–1999) * Roland Koch (1999) * Kurt Beck (2000–2001) * Klaus Wowereit (2001–2002) * Wolfgang Böhmer (2002–2003) * Dieter Althaus (2003–2004) * Matthias Platzeck (2004–2005) * Peter Harry Carstensen (2005–2006) * Ole von Beust (2007–2008) * Peter Müller (2008–2009) *

Jens Böhrnsen Jens Böhrnsen (born 12 June 1949) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD who served as President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 2005 to 2015. From 1 November 2009 until 31 October 2010 he was President of t ...

(2009–2010) * Hannelore Kraft (2010–2011) * Horst Seehofer (2011–2012) * Winfried Kretschmann (2012–2013) * Stephan Weil (2013–2014) * Volker Bouffier (2014–2015) * Stanislaw Tillich (2015–2016) * Malu Dreyer (2016–2017) * Michael Müller (2017–2018) * Daniel Günther (2018–2019) * Dietmar Woidke (2019–2020) * Reiner Haseloff (2020–2021) * Bodo Ramelow (2021–2022) * Peter Tschentscher (2022–2023) * Manuela Schwesig (2023–2024)

Former Presidents of the Federal Constitutional Court

* Hans-Jürgen Papier (2002–2010) * Andreas Voßkuhle (2010–2020)

Notes

References

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Government of Germany de:Protokollarische Rangordnung#Deutschland