President of the German Bundesrat

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In Germany, the President of the Bundesrat or President of the Federal Council (German: Bundesratspräsident) is the chairperson or speaker of the Bundesrat (Federal Council). The presidency of the Bundesrat rotates among the heads of government (most of them holding the title minister-president) of each of the states (in German, Länder) on an annual basis. As well as acting as a chairperson the President of the Bundesrat acts in place of the President of Germany in the latter's absence.

The President of the Bundesrat convenes and chairs plenary sessions of the body and is formally responsible for representing the Federal Republic in the Bundesrat. He or she is aided by three vice-presidents who play an advisory role and deputise in the president's absence. The four together constitute the Präsidium of the Bundesrat.

Election

The President of the Bundesrat usually is elected on the 1 November in a given year, and serves until the 31 October in the year that follows. The Basic Law merely provides, in Article 52.1, that "the Bundesrat elects its President for one year". However, in practice the position rotates among all Länder equally, in accordance with a predetermined order. The order in which the position rotates from one Land to another is altered periodically and is determined by population, the presidency descending in order from the most populous states to the least. This rotation is a constitutional convention known as the “Königstein agreement” (Königsteiner Vereinbarung), having been formulated at a 1950 seating in Königstein im Taunus, Hessen.

If the head of government of a Land changes during the term of the President of the Bundesrat then the presidency passes to the new minister-president for the remainder of its one year duration. This occurred in April 1999 when Roland Koch replaced Hans Eichel as minister-president of Hesse. The current order of rotation of the presidency of the Bundesrat is as follows:

  1. North Rhine-Westphalia
  2. Bavaria
  3. Baden-Württemberg
  4. Lower Saxony
  5. Hesse
  6. Saxony
  7. Rhineland-Palatinate
  8. Berlin
  9. Saxony-Anhalt
  10. Thuringia
  11. Brandenburg
  12. Schleswig-Holstein
  13. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
  14. Hamburg
  15. Saarland
  16. Bremen

Deputy to the Federal President

Article 57 of the Basic Law provides that:

If the Federal President is unable to perform his duties, or if his office falls prematurely vacant, the President of the Bundesrat shall exercise his powers.

If the office of the Federal President falls vacant, the President of the Bundesrat fills in as acting head of state. While doing so he or she does not continue to exercise the role of chair of the Bundesrat. If the president resigns, dies, or is removed from office, a successor is elected within thirty days.

Three Presidents of the Bundesrat have yet served as acting head of state:

  1. Karl Arnold (from 7 September 1949 to 12 September 1949 after he was elected as President of the Bundesrat and before Theodor Heuss was elected as the first President of Germany. With a tenure of only six days he is yet the shortest serving head of state in German history)
  2. Jens Böhrnsen (from 31 May 2010 to 30 June 2010 after the resignation of Horst Köhler and before the election of Christian Wulff)
  3. Horst Seehofer (from 17 February 2012 to 18 March 2012 after the resignation of Christian Wulff and before the election of Joachim Gauck)

If the Federal President is abroad on a state visit the President of the Bundesrat does not assume all of the Federal President's responsibilities but may "deputise" for him or her, performing on the Federal President's behalf merely those tasks that require his or her physical presence, such as the signing of documents.

List of presidents

Political Party

      CDU       SPD       CSU       FDP       Green

No. Name
(Birth–Death)		 State Term of Office Political Party
Took Office Left Office
1 Karl Arnold
(1901–1958)		 North Rhine-Westphalia 1949 1950 CDU
2 Hans Ehard
(1887–1980)		 Bavaria 1950 1951 CSU
3 Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf
(1893–1961)		 Lower Saxony 1951 1952 SPD
4 Reinhold Maier
(1889–1971)		 Baden-Württemberg 1952 1953 FDP
5 Georg August Zinn
(1901–1976)		 Hesse 1953 1954 SPD
6 Peter Altmeier
(1899–1977)		 Rhineland-Palatinate 1954 1955 CDU
7 Kai-Uwe von Hassel
(1913–1997)		 Schleswig-Holstein 1955 1956 CDU
8 Kurt Sieveking
(1897–1986)		 Hamburg 1956 1957 CDU
9 Willy Brandt
(1913–1992)[1]		 Berlin 1957 1958 SPD
10 Wilhelm Kaisen
(1887–1979)		 Bremen 1958 1959 SPD
11 Franz Josef Röder
(1909–1979)		 Saarland 1959 1960 CDU
12 Franz Meyers
(1908–2002)		 North Rhine-Westphalia 1960 1961 CDU
13 Hans Ehard
(1887–1980)		 Bavaria 1961 1962 CSU
14 Kurt Georg Kiesinger
(1904–1988)		 Baden-Württemberg 1962 1963 CDU
15 Georg Diederichs
(1900–1983)		 Lower Saxony 1963 1964 SPD
16 Georg August Zinn
(1901–1976)		 Hesse 1964 1965 SPD
17 Peter Altmeier
(1899–1977)		 Rhineland-Palatinate 1965 1966 CDU
18 Helmut Lemke
(1907–1990)		 Schleswig-Holstein 1966 1967 CDU
19 Klaus Schütz
(1901–1976)		 Berlin 1967 1968 SPD
20 Herbert Weichmann
(1896–1983)		 Hamburg 1968 1969 SPD
21 Franz Josef Röder
(1909–1979)		 Saarland 1969 1970 CDU
22 Hans Koschnick
(1929-2016)		 Bremen 1970 1971 SPD
23 Heinz Kühn
(1912–1992)		 North Rhine-Westphalia 1971 1972 SPD
24 Alfons Goppel
(1905–1991)		 Bavaria 1972 1973 CSU
25 Hans Filbinger
(1913–2007)		 Baden-Württemberg 1973 1974 CDU
26 Alfred Kubel
(1909–1999)		 Lower Saxony 1974 1975 SPD
27 Albert Osswald
(1919–1996)		 Hesse 1975 1976 SPD
28 Bernhard Vogel
(born 1932)		 Rhineland-Palatinate 1976 1977 CDU
29 Gerhard Stoltenberg
(1928–2001)		 Schleswig-Holstein 1977 1978 CDU
30 Dietrich Stobbe
(1938–2001)		 Berlin 1978 1979 SPD
31 Hans-Ulrich Klose
(born 1937)		 Hamburg 1979 1980 SPD
32 Werner Zeyer
(1929–2000)		 Saarland 1980 1981 CDU
33 Hans Koschnick
(1929-2016)		 Bremen 1981 1982 SPD
34 Johannes Rau
(1931–2006)		 North Rhine-Westphalia 1982 1983 SPD
35 Franz Josef Strauß
(1915–1988)		 Bavaria 1983 1984 CSU
36 Lothar Späth
(born 1937)		 Baden-Württemberg 1984 1985 CDU
37 Ernst Albrecht
(born 1930)		 Lower Saxony 1985 1986 CDU
38 Holger Börner
(1931–2006)		 Hesse 1986 1987 SPD
39 Walter Wallmann
(born 1930)		 Hesse 1987 1987 CDU
40 Bernhard Vogel
(born 1932)		 Rhineland-Palatinate 1987 1988 CDU
41 Björn Engholm
(born 1939)		 Schleswig-Holstein 1988 1989 SPD
42 Walter Momper
(born 1945)		 Berlin 1989 1990 SPD
43 Henning Voscherau
(born 1941)		 Hamburg 1990 1991 SPD
44 Alfred Gomolka
(born 1942)		 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 1991 1992 CDU
45 Berndt Seite
(born 1940)		 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 1992 1992 CDU
46 Oskar Lafontaine
(born 1943)		 Saarland 1992 1993 SPD
47 Klaus Wedemeier
(born 1944)		 Bremen 1993 1994 SPD
48 Johannes Rau
(1931–2006)		 North Rhine-Westphalia 1994 1995 SPD
49 Edmund Stoiber
(born 1941)		 Bavaria 1995 1996 CSU
50 Erwin Teufel
(born 1939)		 Baden-Württemberg 1996 1997 CDU
51 Gerhard Schröder
(born 1944)		 Lower Saxony 1997 1998 SPD
52 Hans Eichel
(born 1944)		 Hesse 1998 1999 SPD
53 Roland Koch
(born 1958)		 Hesse 1999 1999 CDU
54 Kurt Biedenkopf
(born 1930)		 Saxony 1999 2000 CDU
55 Kurt Beck
(born 1944)		 Rhineland-Palatinate 2000 2001 SPD
56 Klaus Wowereit
(born 1953)		 Berlin 2001 2002 SPD
57 Wolfgang Böhmer
(born 1936)		 Saxony-Anhalt 2002 2003 CDU
58 Dieter Althaus
(born 1958)		 Thuringia 2003 2004 CDU
59 Matthias Platzeck
(born 1953)		 Brandenburg 2004 2005 SPD
60 Peter Harry Carstensen
(born 1947)		 Schleswig-Holstein 2005 2006 CDU
61 Harald Ringstorff
(born 1939)		 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2006 2007 SPD
62 Ole von Beust
(born 1955)		 Hamburg 2007 2008 CDU
63 Peter Müller
(born 1955)		 Saarland 2008 2009 CDU
64 Jens Böhrnsen
(born 1949)		 Bremen 2009 2010 SPD
65 Hannelore Kraft
(born 1961)		 North Rhine-Westphalia 2010 2011 SPD
66 Horst Seehofer
(born 1941)		 Bavaria 2011 2012 CSU
67 Winfried Kretschmann
(born 1948)		 Baden-Württemberg 2012 2013 Alliance '90/The Greens
68 Stephan Weil
(born 1958)		 Lower Saxony 2013 2014 SPD
69 Volker Bouffier
(born 1951)		 Hesse 2014 2015 CDU
70 Stanislaw Tillich
(born 1959)		 Saxony 2015 CDU

See also

References

  1. ↑ Otto Suhr of the SPD in Berlin was elected President of the Bundesrat in July 1957 but died in August, before his term of office began.

External links

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