Federal government (Germany)

See also: Federal government

The Federal government ( Bundesregierung ) is the Gouvernement of the the Federal Republic of Germany pursuant to the Fundamental law of 1949, in particular of articles 62 to 69. It is a constitutional body of collegial type directed by the federal chancellor ( Bundeskanzler ) and gathering the federal ministers ( Bundesministern ). Also called the cabinet ( Kabinett ), he exerts, under the control of the Bundestag, the executive power for clean competences of the Fédération and, in co-operation with the Länder, for the competences shared with them.

The Cabinet Merkel is in function since November 22nd, 2005; it is directed by Angela Merkel and is supported by a great coalition gathering the Union Christian Democrat (CDU), the social democrat Parti (SPD) and the Christian woman-social Union in Bavaria (CSU).

Composition

The members of the cabinet other than the federal chancellor carry all the title of federal minister ( Bundesminister ).

The German governments are relatively tightened compared to those of other democracies: broadest comprised a score of people, and the average is today around about fifteen people. The Cabinet Merkel includes/understands sixteen people, including fourteen ministers with wallet, a minister without, and the chancelière itself.

As in many countries, a certain number of stations of lower row are associated with work of the government and support the ministers in the achievement of their functions to the ministry or the Parliament, but do not form part of the government. The Federal government thus constitutes the government with the restricted direction, comparable with the Cabinet in the Système of Westminster or with the Council of Ministers in France or in Italy. The government in the broad sense, equivalent of the Government of Its Majesty in the United Kingdom or of the Government in France or Italy, is not a formal body.

The federal chancellor

See also: federal Chancellor (Germany)

The Head of government is the federal chancellor ( of Bundeskanzler , or of Bundeskanzlerin to female). It directs the action of the Federal government and is the central point of the executive power, so much so that one qualifies the German political system of “democracy of the chancellor” ( of Kanzlerdemokratie ). The federal chancellor also assumes the responsibility of the Federal government in front of the Bundestag: he is elected by the Bundestag in the majority of his members, and can be reversed only by him.

Federal ministers

The federal ministers are named by the federal president on proposal of the federal chancellor (Article 64 al. 1 GG). The chancellor decides on their number, their titles and the distribution of their competences; its margin of decision is juridically limited only with regard to attributions of the Ministers for the Defense, Finances and the Justice, which result to some extent of the provisions of the Fundamental law. The proposal of the chancellor results from his own competence and is submitted for no parliamentary approval.

A federal minister should not necessarily be member of the Bundestag, but cannot carry on any other community activity when it is in function.

Its mandate ends either with its revocation by the federal president on a proposal from the chancellor (Article 64 al. 1 GG), or when the functions of the chancellor himself expire (Article 69 al. 2 GG), in particular at the end of each legislature. It can resign, but its resignation is effective only after the federal president put an end to his functions. A minister cannot be individually censured by the Bundestag.

The federal chancellor indicates one of the federal ministers like his substitute (Article 69 al. 1 GG). The temporary of the federal chancellor ( of Stellvertreter of Bundeskanzlers or of of Bundeskanzlerin ), more usually called the vice-chancellor ( of Vizekanzler ), fulfills the functions of the chancellor when this one is prevented (Article 8 GOBReg); it also replaces the chancellor at the request of this one, for example when a voyage prevents it from chairing a meeting of the cabinet.

A Federal minister with special attributions is member of the cabinet without however directing ministry; it is a type of Minister without portfolio.

The title of the five ministers in charge of “traditional” wallets or “Régalien S” (Defense, Finances, Justice, Interior, Foreign affairs) uses the Definite article DER or of the ; the titles of the other ministries use the Préposition für .

Stations of lower row

The ministers of state ( Staatsministern ) and the Secretaries of State ( Staatsekretäre ) do not form part of the Federal government.

; Secretary of State (administrative)

A Secretary of State ( Staatssekretär , StS), or semi-officially administrative Secretary of State ( beamtete Staatssekretär , BStS) is the permanent delegate of the minister for the direction of his ministry. Certain ministries have two of them; in this case, the minister concerned specifies which sections of the ministry enter their attributions.

; Parliamentary Secretary of State

A parliamentary Secretary of State ( parlamentarische Staatssekretär , PStS) is charged to politically support a federal minister in the achievement of his parliamentary obligations and to represent it with the Bundestag. This station was created in 1967, and the obligation to belong to the Bundestag was introduced in 1974, except for those delegated near the chancellor. It can replace the federal minister with the Bundestag, the Bundesrat or at a meeting of the cabinet. Certain ministers, like those of the Foreign affairs or of Finances, have two of them.

There are of them thirty in the Cabinet Merkel, all the same party as their minister of fastening.

; Delegated Federal government

A delegate of the Federal government ( Beauftragter der Bundesregierung ) supports and advises the chancellor or a minister on certain questions and in an independent way. These people can have the statute of parliamentary Secretary of State and the title of minister of state. The Payment common of the federal ministers enjoint to the ministers to sufficiently early inform them of any concerning project their field (Article 21 GGO).

In 2006, there is about thirty in function it.

; Minister of state

The federal president, on a proposal from the chancellor, can confer on a parliamentary Secretary of State, for the duration of its mandate or one precise duration, the title of minister of state ( Staatsminister , StM). The title was in particular used for ministers of state near the federal minister for the Foreign affairs ( Staatsminister beim Bundesminister of Auswärtigen ), because he is considered to be more prestigious within the framework of their activities abroad.

With the Chancellery, certain secretaries also received the title of minister of state near the federal chancellor ( of Staatsminister beim Bundeskanzler ), for example the Délégué Federal government to the culture and the media established in 1998 by Gerhard Schröder.

Organization

Article 65 of the Fundamental law has three principles on the catch of the decisions within the Federal government:

  • the principle of the chancellor ( Kanzlerprinzip ), in virtue of which the federal chancellor fix the main trends of the policy : these orientations oblige the members of the cabinet, who, on their qualification level, cannot make decisions which theirs would be contrary;
  • the principle of the competence ( Ressortprinzip ), which allows each federal minister direct its department in an autonomous way and under its own responsibility : it can prepare legislative projects without intervention of the chancellor or the cabinet, provided that it follows in that the head offices of the policies given by the chancellor, and answers of his decisions before the Bundestag;
  • the principle of collegial structure ( Kollegialprinzip ), in virtue of which the cabinet slice the divergences of opinion between the federal ministers and discusses the most important businesses, in particular the participation in the legislative process (Article 76 GG), the convocation of the committee arbitration (Article 77 al. 2 GG), the catch of payments (Article 80 GG) and the call to the federal constitutional Tribunal (Article 93 al. 1 GG).

This article also lays out that governmental work is organized by the Règlement of the Federal government ( Geschäftsordnung der Bundesregierung , GOBReg), taken by the chancellor after approval of the federal president. This payment was published on May 11th, 1951 by Konrad Adenauer, and was modified for the last time in 2002.

Relationships to the Bundestag

See also: governmental Responsibility in Germany

The Bundestag can constantly require the presence of the federal chancellor or a federal minister. N the other hand, the members of the cabinet have the right to attend any meeting of the Bundestag or one of its committees and to speak there as such, without their intervention not being entered in the speaking time of the group to which they possibly belong as deputies.

The tradition of a “Shadow cabinet”, come from the System of Westminster, never settled in Germany, in spite of an attempt at Willy Brandt in 1961; a government must indeed generally be constant by a coalition rather than by only one party, which makes difficult to compose a team before even the elections. It however became current that the principal party of opposition indicates a of Kompetenzteam (team of competences), gathering its principal members with a distribution of the great fields of the government policy.

Administrations

Federal ministers

The Federal Republic of Germany, like the majority of the States, does not have a fixed ministerial structure: the federal ministers ( of Bundesministerien ) are federal administrations supreme whose titles and competences correspond to those of each member of the cabinet, which generally vary with each nomination of a new cabinet. Only the ministries for Finances, Defense and Justice are “obligatory”, because they are quoted in the Fundamental law.

The most important changes in the structure of the government departments were the creation of a ministry in charge of defense by Konrad Adenauer in the years 1950; a vast reorganization by Willy Brandt during the formation of sound first cabinet in 1969, which saw in particular the disappearance of three ministries; and creation by Gerhard Schröder, during the formation of second cabinet in 2002, of a “super-ministry” in charge of the unit with the economic policy and employment, divided in 2005.

The governments being generally relatively tightened, broadest in term of government departments were the cabinets Erhard I (1963-1965) and Erhard II (1965-1966) with nineteen ministries, and more tightened was the Cabinet Schröder II (2002-2005) with thirteen.

There are fourteen ministries in the Cabinet Merkel:

  • the office of the Foreign affairs;
  • the federal minister of the Interior;
  • the federal minister of Justice;
  • the federal minister of Finances;
  • the federal minister of the Economy and Technology;
  • the federal minister of Work and the social Affairs;
  • the federal minister of the Food, the Agriculture and the Consumer protection;
  • the federal minister of Defense;
  • the federal minister of the Family, the Elderly, the Women and Youth;
  • the federal minister of Health;
  • the federal minister of Transport, Public works and the urban Development;
  • the federal minister of the Environment, Protection of nature and the Nuclear security;
  • the federal minister of the Formation and Research;
  • the federal minister of the Economic cooperation and the Development.

Several ministries disappeared:

Although the seat of the Federal government as a constitutional body is with Berlin since 1999, six ministries have their principal seat in the old capital, Bonn, and have a secondary seat in Berlin. The other ministries have their principal seat in Berlin and a secondary seat in Bonn. The majority of the governmental civils servant is localized in Bonn.

The federal Chancellery

See also: federal Chancellery (Germany)

The federal Chancellery ( of Bundeskanzleramt ) is the administration charged to support the federal chancellor in the achievement of its functions. She plays a central role in the programming of the government policy, the coordination of the work of the federal ministers, and the implementation of the directives of the chancellor.

The office of press and information of the Federal government

See also: Office of press and information of the Federal government

The office of press and information of the Federal government ( of Press und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung ), the administration in charge of the communication of the whole of the Federal government, is placed under the responsibility of the chancellor, without however belonging to the federal Chancellery.

Resources

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