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German Bundestag Deutscher Bundestag | |
|---|---|
| 20th Bundestag | |
 | |
| History | |
| Established | 7 September 1949 |
| Preceded by |
|
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 733[1][2] |
.svg) | |
Political groups | Government (325)
Opposition (408) |
| Elections | |
| Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) with leveling seats | |
Last election | 26 September 2021 |
Next election | 23 February 2025 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Reichstag building Mitte, Berlin, Germany | |
| Website | |
| www | |
| Constitution | |
| Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany | |
| Rules | |
| Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag and Mediation Committee (English) | |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Germany |
|---|
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The Bundestag (German: [ˈbʊndəstaːk] , "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament and the lower of two chambers, alongside the upper chamber, the Bundesrat. It is the only federal representative body directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III[c] of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz, pronounced [ˈɡʁʊntɡəˌzɛt͡s] ) in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany. It is thus 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 and their conscience.[d] The minimum legal number of members of the Bundestag (German: Mitglieder des Bundestages) is 598;[e] however, due to the system of overhang and leveling seats the current 20th Bundestag has a total of 735 members, making it the largest Bundestag to date and the largest freely elected national parliamentary chamber in the world.[3] The members of the Bundestag refer to their workplace as Hohes Haus, august house.
The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens[f] aged 18 and older.[g] Elections use a mixed-member proportional representation system which combines first-past-the-post elected seats with a proportional party list to ensure its composition mirrors the national popular vote. Germany's parliament can only be dissolved by the President of Germany, and only after the chancellor failed to maintain the confidence of the parliament in a vote called for either by him or a majority of the house.
The Bundestag has several functions, among which a few are shared with the Bundesrat. It is the chief legislative body on the federal level, producing the federal government and its presiding chancellor. The individual states (Bundesländer) of Germany participate in the legislative process through the Bundesrat, a separate assembly sharing several privileges with the house.[4] The Bundestag elects and oversees the chancellor and their ministers, to each of which the parliament constituted mirroring committees for oversight (Ausschüsse). Setting the government budget is the parliament's primary privilege, for which to execute it assembles the largest and most important committee of the house. Opposed to most debates in the Bundestag focussing on a specific topic, budget bills from the committee are heavily debated in the style of a review and general criticism on the government for the past year (Generaldebatte). The Bundestag also exclusively mandates about deployment, dispatch and assignments of the Bundeswehr, Germany's military. The commander-in-chief, which is the federal minister of defence, is obliged to and acting on behalf of the parliament (Parlamentsarmee).
Since 1999, the Bundestag has met in the Reichstag building in Berlin.[5] The Bundestag also operates in multiple new government buildings in Berlin around the neo-renaissance house and has its own police force (the Bundestagspolizei), directly subordinated to the Bundestag Presidency. Since 2021, Bärbel Bas of the SPD is the president of the Bundestag, with as many as five vice presidents, one from each faction. The presidents and vice presidents of the parliament are elected by the members of the parliament from among their midst. Usually each faction's proposed candidate gets a simple affirmation for the office by a vote of the whole house, no matter whether the faction is governing or in opposition and regularly without distinction of person. The radical-right AfD is the first and only faction in the history of reunited Germany not being able to take seat in the Bundestag presidency, failing to do so in 17 votes of the house.[6] The denial to affirm a vice president from the AfD is seen as a vote of no confidence and distrust of the house in the only faction observed by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.[7]
As the President of Germany is the head of state, while the Bundestag produces, oversees, and controls the government, the president of the Bundestag is therefore the second-highest ranking administrator of Germany. The chancellor, albeit head of government, is only the third-highest ranking administrator and has to petition both the presidents he is subordinated to for certain procedures.
The 20th German Bundestag is the most visited parliament in the world, as well as the largest elected legislative body in the world.[8]
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- ^ "Deutscher Bundestag - Abgeordnete". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 28 April 2024.
- ^ "Scheuer legt Mandat nieder: Warum sein Sitz nun leer bleibt". ZDFheute (in German). 2 April 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
- ^ Mayer, Tilman (14 July 2021). "Das größte Parlament der Welt wächst und wächst: Politik bläht Bundestag immer weiter auf". FOCUS online. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
- ^ Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland (PDF) (23 December 2014 ed.). Bonn: Parlamentarischer Rat. 8 May 1949. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
- ^ "Plenarsaal "Deutscher Bundestag" – The Path of Democracy". www.wegderdemokratie.de. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "Schlappe für die AfD: Partei scheitert erneut bei Wahl um Bundestagsvizepräsidenten". www.t-online.de (in German). 28 September 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "Wahl einer Bundestagsvize - Deutscher Bundestag verweigert sich der AfD". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 5 April 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
- ^ "German Bundestag - From the Parliamentary Council to the most visited parliament..." German Bundestag. Retrieved 17 August 2022.