President of the German Bundesrat
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In Germany, the President of the Bundesrat (German: Bundesratspräsident) is the chairperson or speaker of the Bundesrat. The presidency of the Bundesrat rotates among the minister-presidents of each of the federal Länder (states) on an annual basis. As well as acting as a chairperson the President of the Bundesrat acts as deputy, or vice president, to the Federal President.
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.
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[edit] 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.
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:
- North Rhine-Westphalia
- Bavaria
- Baden-Württemberg
- Lower Saxony
- Hesse
- Saxony
- Rhineland-Palatinate
- Berlin
- Saxony-Anhalt
- Thuringia
- Brandenburg
- Schleswig-Holstein
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Hamburg
- Saarland
- Bremen
[edit] 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 Federal President is outside of the country, or the position is 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 dies, or is removed from office, a successor is elected within thirty days. However since the establishment of the office this has never occurred.
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.
[edit] List of Presidents
- 1949-1950 Karl Arnold, North Rhine-Westphalia, CDU
- 1950-1951 Hans Ehard, Bavaria, CSU
- 1951-1952 Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf, Lower Saxony, Social Democratic Party SPD
- 1952-1953 Reinhold Maier, Baden-Württemberg, FDP
- 1953-1954 Georg August Zinn, Hesse, SPD
- 1954-1955 Peter Altmeier, Rhineland-Palatinate, CDU
- 1955-1956 Kai-Uwe von Hassel, Schleswig-Holstein, CDU
- 1956-1957 Kurt Sieveking, Hamburg, CDU
- 1957-1958 Willy Brandt[1], Berlin, SPD
- 1958-1959 Wilhelm Kaisen, Bremen, SPD
- 1959-1960 Franz Josef Röder, Saarland, CDU
- 1960-1961 Franz Meyers, North Rhine-Westphalia, CDU
- 1961-1962 Hans Ehard, Bavaria, CSU
- 1962-1963 Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Baden-Württemberg, CDU
- 1963-1964 Georg Diederichs, Lower Saxony, SPD
- 1964-1965 Georg August Zinn, Hesse, SPD
- 1965-1966 Peter Altmeier, Rhineland-Palatinate, CDU
- 1966-1967 Helmut Lemke, Schleswig-Holstein, CDU
- 1967-1968 Klaus Schütz, Berlin, SPD
- 1968-1969 Herbert Weichmann, Hamburg, SPD
- 1969-1970 Franz Josef Röder, Saarland, CDU
- 1970-1971 Hans Koschnick, Bremen, SPD
- 1971-1972 Heinz Kühn, North Rhine-Westphalia, SPD
- 1972-1973 Alfons Goppel, Bavaria, CSU
- 1973-1974 Hans Filbinger, Baden-Württemberg, CDU
- 1974-1975 Alfred Kubel, Lower Saxony, SPD
- 1975-1976 Albert Osswald, Hesse, SPD
- 1976-1977 Bernhard Vogel, Rhineland-Palatinate, CDU
- 1977-1978 Gerhard Stoltenberg, Schleswig-Holstein, CDU
- 1978-1979 Dietrich Stobbe, Berlin, SPD
- 1979-1980 Hans-Ulrich Klose, Hamburg, SPD
- 1980-1981 Werner Zeyer, Saarland, CDU
- 1981-1982 Hans Koschnick, Bremen, SPD
- 1982-1983 Johannes Rau, North Rhine-Westphalia, SPD
- 1983-1984 Franz Josef Strauß, Bavaria, CSU
- 1984-1985 Lothar Späth, Baden-Württemberg, CDU
- 1985-1986 Ernst Albrecht, Lower Saxony, CDU
- 1986-1987 Holger Börner, Hesse, SPD
- 1987-1987 Walter Wallmann, Hesse, CDU
- 1987-1988 Bernhard Vogel, Rhineland-Palatinate, CDU
- 1988-1989 Björn Engholm, Schleswig-Holstein, SPD
- 1989-1990 Walter Momper, Berlin, SPD
- 1990-1991 Henning Voscherau, Hamburg, SPD
- 1991-1992 Alfred Gomolka, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, CDU
- 1992-1992 Berndt Seite, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, CDU
- 1992-1993 Oskar Lafontaine, Saarland, SPD
- 1993-1994 Klaus Wedemeier, Bremen, SPD
- 1994-1995 Johannes Rau, North Rhine-Westphalia, SPD
- 1995-1996 Edmund Stoiber, Bavaria, CSU
- 1996-1997 Erwin Teufel, Baden-Württemberg, CDU
- 1997-1998 Gerhard Schröder, Lower Saxony, SPD
- 1998-1999 Hans Eichel, Hesse, SPD
- 1999-1999 Roland Koch, Hesse, CDU
- 1999-2000 Kurt Biedenkopf, Saxony, CDU
- 2000-2001 Kurt Beck, Rhineland-Palatinate, SPD
- 2001-2002 Klaus Wowereit, Berlin, SPD
- 2002-2003 Wolfgang Böhmer, Saxony-Anhalt, CDU
- 2003-2004 Dieter Althaus, Thuringia, CDU
- 2004-2005 Matthias Platzeck, Brandenburg, SPD
- 2005-2006 Peter Harry Carstensen, Schleswig-Holstein, CDU
- 2006-2007 Harald Ringstorff, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, SPD
- 2007–2008 Ole von Beust, Hamburg, CDU
- 2008–present Peter Müller, Saarland, CDU
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ 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.

