Bundesrat Leipziger Straße 3-4, 10117 Berlin Postal address: 11055 Berlin Tel. +49 (0)30 18 9100-0

The second legislative chamber, the Bundesrat, is the federal body in which the sixteen Land governments are directly represented. It exemplifies Germany’s federalist system of government. Members of the Bundesrat are not popularly elected but are appointed by their respective Land governments. Members tend to be Land government ministers.

Bundesrat, (German: “Federal Council”), one of the two legislative chambers of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is the Upper House and acts mainly in an advisory capacity, since political power resides in the popularly elected Bundestag , but its consent is required for a large number of laws and regulations as well as for constitutional amendments .

Der Bundesrat ist ein politisches Organ und kann daher kein parteipolitisches Neutrum sein. Die Mitglieder des Bundesrates verdanken schließlich ihr politisches Amt den Mehrheiten in den Landesparlamenten, die sich wiederum auf Parteien zurückführen lassen. Dennoch ist der Einfluss der Parteien im Bundesrat geringer als im Bundestag.

Context: A reform of the German federal system, adopted in July 2006, came into force in 2007. A new definition of the competences of the Federation and Länder was set: the autonomy of the Länder has been reinforced by new competences; in compensation, the number of federal bills that will be eligible to be passed without endorsement from the Bundesrat will increase.

The German Bundestag is the national parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its seat is the Reichstag Building in Berlin. In the current electoral term, Parliament is composed of 736 Members. This is the 20th electoral term since the establishment of the Federal Republic in 1949.

3.3 Another House of the German Parliament, the Bundesrat, is composed of appointed Members representing the 16 states of Germany at the national level. To counterweight the power of the Bundestag, the Bundesrat is granted with a number of legislative and scrutiny powers. For