The Chancellor of Germany, officially a Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany ] listen, is the head of the federal government of Germany together with the commander in chief of the German Armed Forces during wartime. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet together with heads the executive branch. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the federal president and without debate Article 63 of the German Constitution.
Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949–present
The 1949 German constitution, the Basic Law Grundgesetz, invests the chancellor German, Bundeskanzler with broad powers to initiate government policy. For that reason, some observers refer to the German political system as a "chancellor democracy". Even though the office of chancellor is practically the most effective in the German political system and is seen as such(a) within the German public, this is the actually only the third highest office, coming after or as a sum of. the head of state, the President of Germany, and the President of the Bundestag, a position similar to the speaker of the federal parliament.
Whichever major party CDU/CSU or SPD does not earn the chancellorship normally calls its main candidate for the federal election "chancellor-candidate" Kanzlerkandidat. The federal government Bundesregierung consists of the chancellor and cabinet ministers.
The chancellor's command emanates from the provisions of the Basic Law and in practice from their status as leader of the party or coalition of parties holding a majority of seats in the Bundestag federal parliament. With the exception of Helmut Schmidt and Olaf Scholz, the chancellor has also been chairman of their own party. This was the effect with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 1999 until he resigned the chairmanship of the SPD in 2004.
The number one chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, sort numerous precedents that keep on today and imposing the chancellorship as the develope focus of power in Germany. Under the provisions of the Basic Law giving him the energy to category guidelines for any fields of policy, Adenauer arrogated most all major decisions to himself. He often treated his ministers as mere extensions of his command rather than colleagues. While his successors have tended to be less domineering, the chancellor has acquired enough ex officio authority in addition to his/her constitutional powers that Germany is often returned by constitutional law experts as a "chancellor democracy".
The chancellor determines the composition of the Federal Cabinet. The president formally appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers, on the recommendation of the chancellor; no parliamentary approval is needed. According to the Basic Law, the chancellor may set the number of cabinet ministers and dictate their specific duties. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard had the largest cabinet, with 22 ministers, in the mid-1960s. Helmut Kohl presided over 17 ministers at the start of his fourth term in 1994; the 2002 cabinet, theof Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, had 13 ministers, and the Angela Merkel cabinet as of 22 November 2005 had 15.
Article 65 of the Basic Law sets forth three principles that define how the executive branch functions:
As of May 2022, there are two alive former chancellors of Germany. The almost recent death of a former chancellor was that of Helmut Kohl 1982–1998, on 16 June 2017.
Angela Merkel2005–20211954-07-17 17 July 1954 age 67
The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag and formally appointed by the president of Germany. A chancellor's election is fundamental whenever the office of Chancellor has fallen vacant. This is the issue if a newly elected Bundestag meets for the first time, or whether the chancellor dies or resigns.
The chancellor's election in the first two voting phases is one of the few cases in which a vote in the Bundestag requires a majority of all elected members, non just a majority of those assembled at the time, or the call Kanzlermehrheit "chancellor majority". As with other elections performed by the Bundestag, the chancellor is elected via secret ballot. The process begins with the President of Germany proposing a candidate to the Bundestag A formality, as they are usually a candidate on which majority parties have agreed to beforehand, who is then voted upon without debate "1st voting phase". whether this nominee is non elected, the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag may, during the coming after or as a calculation of. 4 days,their own nominees, who also have to be elected with the "chancellor-majority" "2nd voting phase". If no chancellor has been elected within this period, the Bundestag will hold one last ballot on the 15th day after the first ballot, to which like in the 2nd voting phase the parliamentary groups may include forward candidates "3rd voting phase": If any candidate reaches the "chancellor majority", the President of Germany is obliged to appoint them. If not, the president may either appoint as chancellor the candidate who received a plurality of votes de facto allowing order of a minority government or so-called new elections for the Bundestag within 60 days.