Pair (parliamentary convention)

Pairing Pairing agreements or agreements are agreements between parliamentary government and supporting opposition factions. They state that for every ill, professional or otherwise strongly prevented members of the government side stays away from a deputy of the opposition to the vote in Parliament. This " " Fairness Agreement " to the parliamentary balance of power, so the majority of the government bearing fractions, are safeguarded. The process is partly not in general but agreed only to certain voting or even for whole days of meetings between the Parliamentary managers of the fractions. For important votes, decide on the future of government is sometimes made ​​to the absence of MPs no consideration. anglicism the use of this is covered in Germany since 1978.

Originally dating from the British Parliament and practiced there until 1997 Pairing concerns in Germany in the field of freedom of contract and instructions Article 38 paragraph 1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law. Thereafter, representatives of the whole people are not bound by orders or instructions, and responsible only to their conscience. Due to the non-binding nature of the agreement they may at any time be terminated. For this reason, it is constitutionally permissible. The pairing agreement thus finds its limit on the free mandate, since no Member can be forced to stay away from Parliament sessions. A compliance agreement is therefore not enforceable in the courts.

Pairing agreements can be canceled at anytime by either party. In 2002, for example, the Union situated in the opposition of the red-green coalition announced because of the dispute over the appointment of a second deputy post in the federal Bureau to make a pairing agreement. The parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group NRW Britta Altenkamp entered on July 3, 2011 Back from their function because they had two days earlier terminated a pairing agreement and thus triggered a scandal. On June 15, 2012 SPD and the Greens took significantly more MPs in the parliamentary session, as agreed by the pairing agreement, so that when a vote is the majority circumstances were unclear. When then arranged Hammelsprung the opposition deputies stopped outside the Chamber, so that no majority of MPs was in the hall, with which the Bundestag was a quorum and the meeting had to be closed. The opposition prevented so the first reading of the controversial bill for care allowance, which stood at a later point on the agenda.

Partial pairing arrangements are criticized as "voting waiver " and as an "instrument of traditional power structures ". The Pirates Group in Schleswig- Holstein Parliament rejected in 2012 an agreement on the ground, parliamentary majorities should be " without forming party discipline from the free conviction of all people's representatives ". In a properly oriented voting behavior, the orientation alone at the conscience of the deputies, the division of the people's representatives is outdated in coalition and the opposition. It is not a " majority buyer " and see it as electoral mandate, " to take advantage of random opportunities such as preventing a coalition MPs to serve the Schleswig- Holsteiners or prevent harm to them. "