Council of Elders of the Bundestag (Germany)

The Council of Elders is a committee in parliament, treats the points of order. It is typically composed of representatives of the political groups (eg, Group Chairman, parliamentary secretary ) and is headed by the President of Parliament. Contrary to the name of the Elders is not formed from the oldest members of the Bundestag, there is no minimum age. The name comes from the fact that the tasks of the Council of Elders require a lot of parliamentary experience.

German Bundestag

The Council of Elders of the Bundestag is an executive committee. It defines, inter alia, the agenda of the Bundestag and regulates the business of the house. He is according to § 6 paragraph 3 of the Rules of Procedure, a decision-making body, to the extent not reserved to the President of the Bundestag certain decisions. He is occupied according to the relative strength in the Bundestag by the fractions. In the 17th legislature began in 2009, it consists of 29 members.

Composition

" The Council of Elders consists of the president, his [ currently six ] twenty and three other deputies to be appointed by the political groups in accordance with § 12 members ... "

Among them are the respective first parliamentary manager.

The Commission of Internal Affairs, the building and room Commission, the I and K Commission (Commission for the use of new information and communication technologies and media ) and the legal status of the Commission shall assist him in his work. In Rules disputes and criticism of the official leadership of the incumbent president matters to the First Committee shall be referred to the Rules Committee for clarification.

State parliaments

Also, most parliaments of the German federal states have a council of elders (see, eg parliament of Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania). The Council of Elders is one of the most important bodies of the Parliament. He shall assist the President in carrying out its tasks and discussed the course of parliamentary work.

The councils of elders of the individual national parliaments set also consists of the President, the Vice-President and representatives of the political groups. In addition, can be consulted at certain Oldest Councils government representatives.

The councils of elders of the state legislatures, for example, Hamburg, Mecklenburg- Vorpommern and Schleswig -Holstein are only advisory, and the formal decision is up to each alone the parliament president.

In the diets of Baden- Württemberg, Brandenburg, Bremen, Saarland and Saxony, the tasks to be performed by the parliament presidium, as there is no elders there.

In Brandenburg and Saarland, the Bureau is the extent decision-making body.

The Bureau of the Saxon Parliament has a total of 27 members of an unusual size for state legislatures.