German Bundesrat

German Federal Council Deutscher Bundesrat
74th year of business
History
Founded	23 May 1949; 74 years ago (1949-05-23)
Leadership
President	Manuela Schwesig, SPD since 1 November 2023
First Vice President	Peter Tschentscher, SPD since 1 November 2023
Second Vice President	Anke Rehlinger, SPD since 1 November 2023
Structure
Seats	69 seats
Elections
Voting system	Appointment by State Governments
Meeting place
Former chamber of the Prussian House of Lords, Berlin
Website
bundesrat.de

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The German Bundesrat (German: [ˈbʊndəsˌʁaːt] ^ⓘ, lit. 'Federal Council') is a legislative body^[a] that represents the sixteen Länder (federated states) of Germany at the federal level (German: Bundesebene). The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin. Its second seat is located in the former West German capital of Bonn.

The Bundesrat legislates alongside the Bundestag, which consists of representatives directly elected by the German people. Laws that affect state powers and all constitutional changes need the consent of both houses. For its somewhat similar function, the Bundesrat is sometimes (controversially) described as an upper house of parliament along the lines of the United States Senate, the Canadian Senate, and the British House of Lords.^[a]

The name "Bundesrat" was used by similar bodies in the North German Confederation (1867) and the German Empire (1871). The predecessor of the Bundesrat in the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was the Reichsrat.

The political makeup of the Bundesrat is affected by changes in power in the states of Germany, and thus by elections in each state. Each state delegation in the Bundesrat is essentially a representation of the state government and reflects the political makeup of the governing coalition in each state legislature. Thus, the Bundesrat is a continuous body and has no legislative periods. For organizational reasons, the Bundesrat structures its legislative calendar in years of business (Geschäftsjahre), beginning each year on 1 November. Each year of business is congruous with the one-year-term of the Presidium of the Bundesrat. The sessions have been counted continuously since the first session on 7 September 1949. The Bundesrat's 1000th session took place on 12 February 2021 and was opened with a speech by President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
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