The Bundesrat ("federal council") is the representation of the 16 Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany at the federal level. It has its seat at the former Prussian Herrenhaus (House of Lords) in Berlin.
It is frequently stated that Germany has a bicameral parliament (with the Bundestag and Bundesrat being the lower and upper houses, respectively), but this is debatable in the strict sense the term is used with the parliaments of other countries. For one, its members are not elected representatives but delegates appointed by the Land governments, and they are not free in their vote but are required to follow the instructions of the Land governments. Thus the concept of "term of office" becomes meaningless as it does not matter which persons do the actual voting. Also, not all laws require the consent of the Bundesrat. This distinction isn't entirely clear cut, however. The United Kingdom's House of Lords, which is generally considered to be the upper house of a bicameral parliament, is not theoretically required to assent to any Bill. Still, common terminology in Germany (and in German textbooks) is that the Bundestag is Germany's parliament, and the Bundesrat is an institution in its own right.
Composition
Bundesrat delegates tend to be Land government ministers. The majority in the Bundesrat can change at any Land election, which are relatively evenly spread out across time, 3 to 4 occurring in any year on average. The Bundesrat has sixty-nine seats (not "members" as the personal identity is of no concern, as described above). The Länder with more than 7 million inhabitants have six seats (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia). The Länder with populations of between 6 and 7 million have five seats (Hesse), those with populations of between 2 million and 6 million four (Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia). The least populous Länder, with fewer than 2 million inhabitants, receive three seats each (Bremen, Hamburg, and the Saarland). This system of representation, although designed to reflect Land populations more accurately than equal representation would, in fact still affords greater representation per inhabitant to the smaller Länder. The presidency of the Bundesrat rotates annually among the Länder. The president of the Bundesrat is deputy to the President of Germany. By law, each Land delegation is required to vote as a bloc in accordance with the instructions of the Land government, thus Lands with coalition governments usually abstain if the matter isn't agreed on by the involved parties on the federal level; however in accord with the German constitution such abstentions count as a "nay" vote. A law passed in 2002 with a split vote by the Brandenburg delegation was declared void by the German Constitutional Court.
Because the Bundesrat is so much smaller than the Bundestag, and also because it is more or less an organized cooperation of Land governments rather than a real parliament, it does not require the extensive organizational structure of the lower house. The Bundesrat typically schedules plenary sessions once a month for the purpose of voting on legislation prepared in committee. In comparison, the Bundestag conducts about fifty plenary sessions a year. The voting Bundesrat delegates themselves rarely attend committee sessions; instead, they delegate that responsibility to civil servants from their ministries, as allowed for in the Basic Law. The delegates tend to spend most of their time in their Land capitals, rather than in the federal capital.
Tasks
The legislative authority of the Bundesrat is subordinate to that of the Bundestag, but the upper house nonetheless plays a vital legislative role. The federal government must present all legislative initiatives first to the Bundesrat; only thereafter can a proposal be passed to the Bundestag. Further, the Bundesrat must approve all legislation affecting policy areas for which the Basic Law grants the Länder concurrent powers and for which the Länder must administer federal regulations. The Bundesrat has increased its legislative responsibilities over time by successfully arguing for a broad, rather than a narrow, interpretation of what constitutes the range of legislation affecting Land interests. In 1949 only 10 percent of all federal laws, namely, those directly affecting the Länder, required Bundesrat approval. In 1993 close to 60 percent of federal legislation required the upper house's assent. The Basic Law also provides the Bundesrat with an absolute veto of such legislation.
The political power of the absolute veto is particularly evident when the opposition party or parties in the Bundestag have a majority in the Bundesrat, which has been the case almost constantly since 1991. Whenever this happens, the opposition can threaten the government's legislative program. Such a division of authority can complicate the process of governing when the major parties disagree, and, unlike the Bundestag, the Bundesrat cannot be dissolved under any circumstances. Such stalemates are not unlike those that may be experienced under cohabitation in other countries.
Criticisms of the current legislative system
Some observers emphasize that different majorities in the two chambers ensure that all legislation, when approved, has the support of a broad political spectrum--a particularly valuable attribute in the aftermath of unification, when consensus on critical policy decisions is vital. The formal representation of the Länder in the federal government through the upper chamber provides an obvious forum for the coordination of policy between the Länder and the federal government. The need for such coordination, particularly given the specific, crucial needs of the eastern Länder, has become only more important.
Other observers claim that the opposing majorities lead to an increase in backroom politics, where small groups of high-tier leaders make all the important decisions and the Bundestag representatives only have a choice between agreeing with them or not getting anything at all done. The current German "Federalism Commission" is looking into this issue, among others. There have been frequent suggestions of replacing the Bundesrat with a US-style elected Senate, which would be elected at the same date as the Bundestag. This is hoped to increase the institution's popularity, reduce Land bureaucracy influence on legislation, make opposing majorities less likely, make the legislative process more transparent, and generally set a new standard of democratic, rather than bureaucratic leadership. It remains to be seen if existing party leaderships are willing to support such a step, however.
Related articles
External links
- Bundesrat (Germany) http://www3.bundesrat.de/Site/Inhalt/EN/
Last updated: 05-03-2005 02:30:17
