Vice-Chancellor of Germany
The Deputy to the Federal Chancellor, widely known as the Vice Chancellor of Germany is, according to protocol, the second highest position in the Cabinet of Germany. He is the equivalent of a deputy minister in other parliamentary systems. The current Vice Chancellor is Sigmar Gabriel, who is the president of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, as provided by the Basic Law, Vice Chancellor is not an independent office, but a position held by one of the ministers. Since 1966, it has often held by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is the Chancellor who chooses which minister serves as Vice Chancellor, since coalition governments are common in German politics, the Vice Chancellor is in most cases the president of the junior coalition partner. In case of the Chancellors absence, the Vice Chancellor acts in his or her place, the Vice Chancellor will not automatically become Chancellor for the rest of the term if the Chancellor dies or becomes unable to fulfill his or her duties in any other way.
It is the President who asks a minister to fulfill the Chancellors duties until the Bundestag elects a new Chancellor and this has happened only once, Vice Chancellor Walter Scheel was acting Chancellor for a few days in May 1974 between Chancellor Willy Brandt’s resignation and Helmut Schmidt’s election. In addition to the deputy, who would be responsible for all the affairs of the Chancellor. The act was revised on 28 October 1918, when the possibility of appointing deputies with limited responsibilities was removed, Political Party, FKP FVP Political Party, DDP Centre DVP SPD DNVP Political Party, NSDAP Political Party, FDP CDU SPD Green
Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic is an unofficial, historical designation for the German state between 1919 and 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place, the official name of the state was still Deutsches Reich, it had remained unchanged since 1871. In English the country was known simply as Germany. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the Deutsches Reich was written, in its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism, and contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. The people of Germany blamed the Weimar Republic rather than their leaders for the countrys defeat. However, the Weimar Republic government successfully reformed the currency, unified tax policies, Weimar Germany eliminated most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, it never completely met its disarmament requirements, and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations.
Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the borders of the republic. From 1930 onwards President Hindenburg used emergency powers to back Chancellors Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen, the Great Depression, exacerbated by Brünings policy of deflation, led to a surge in unemployment. In 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor with the Nazi Party being part of a coalition government, the Nazis held two out of the remaining ten cabinet seats. Von Papen as Vice Chancellor was intended to be the éminence grise who would keep Hitler under control, within months the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933 had brought about a state of emergency, it wiped out constitutional governance and civil liberties. Hitlers seizure of power was permissive of government by decree without legislative participation and these events brought the republic to an end, as democracy collapsed, a single-party state founded the Nazi era. The Weimar Republic is so called because the assembly that adopted its constitution met at Weimar, Germany from 6 February 1919 to 11 August 1919, but this name only became mainstream after 1933.
To the right of the spectrum the politically engaged rejected the new democratic model, the Catholic Centre party, Zentrum favoured the term Deutscher Volksstaat while on the moderate left the Chancellors SPD preferred Deutsche Republik. Only during the 1930s did the term become mainstream, both within and outside Germany, after the introduction of the republic, the flag and coat of arms of Germany were officially altered to reflect the political changes. The Weimar Republic retained the Reichsadler, but without the symbols of the former Monarchy and this left the black eagle with one head, facing to the right, with open wings but closed feathers, with a red beak and claws and white highlighting. If the Reichs Eagle is shown without a frame, the charge and colors as those of the eagle of the Reichs coat of arms are to be used. The patterns kept by the Federal Ministry of the Interior are decisive for the heraldic design, the artistic design may be varied for each special purpose. The achievements and signs of movement were mostly done away with after its downfall
Olaf Scholz
Olaf Scholz is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and First Mayor of Hamburg since 7 March 2011. A former Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth, Scholz served as the SPD parliamentary group’s spokesperson on the inquiry committee investigating the German Visa Affair in 2005. Following the federal elections that year, he served as First Parliamentary Secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, in this capacity, he worked closely with the CDU parliamentary floor manager Norbert Röttgen to manage and defend the grand coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel in parliament. He served as member of the Parliamentary Control Panel, which provides oversight of Germany’s intelligence services BND, MAD. Scholz succeeded Franz Müntefering as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the first cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, following the 2009 elections, Scholz served as deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. Between 2009 and 2011, he served on the group’s Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force, in 2010 he participated in the annual Bilderberg Meeting in Sitges, Spain.
On 20 February 2011 the Social Democrats led by Scholz won the 2011 Hamburg state election with 48. 3% of the votes, resulting in 62 out of 121 seats in the Hamburg Parliament. Scholz resigned as a member of the seventeenth Bundestag on 11 March 2011 shortly after his election as First Mayor, Dorothee Stapelfeldt, on June 7,2011, Scholz attended the state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama in honor of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House. As host of Hamburg’s annual St, Scholz participated in the exploratory talks between the CDU, CSU and SPD parties to form a coalition government following the 2013 federal elections. In the subsequent negotiations, he led the SPD delegation in the financial policy working group, alongside fellow Social Democrats Jörg Asmussen and Thomas Oppermann, Scholz was considered a possible successor to Schäuble in the post of finance minister at the time. Since January 2015, he has been serving as Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation, under Scholz’ leadership, the Social Democrats handily won the 2015 state elections in Hamburg, receiving around 47 percent of the vote.
His coalition government with the Green Party – with Green leader Katharina Fegebank serving as Deputy First Mayor – was sworn in on 15 April 2015. When the editors said they would go ahead and publish it without authorization, olaf Scholz is married with Britta Ernst, they have no children
Speaker (politics)
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer. The title was first used in 1399 in England, the speakers official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to members who break the procedures of the chamber or house. The speaker often represents the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial, the title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are normally addressed in Parliament as Mister Speaker, if a man, or Madam Speaker, in other cultures other styles are used, mainly being equivalents of English chairman or president. Many bodies have a pro tempore, designated to fill in when the speaker is not available. The Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives is the officer of the Australian House of Representatives. The President of the Australian Senate is the officer of the Australian Senate.
Now constitutional community highlights changes in this role, in Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the House of Commons, the elected lower house. The speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speakers role in presiding over Canadas House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in countries that use the Westminster system. The Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie, by convention, if required to vote, the Speaker will vote in favour of continuing debate on a matter, but will not ultimately vote for a measure to be approved. The Speaker of the Senate of Canada is the officer of the Senate of Canada. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of procedure and parliamentary privilege. The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada from amongst sitting senators upon the advice of the Prime Minister, the Speaker has a vote on all matters.
In the event of a tie, the matter fails, at the provincial level, the presiding officer of the provincial legislatures is called the Speaker in all provinces except Quebec, where the term President is used. The presiding officer fulfills the role as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the elected to preside over the elected House of Commons
Politics of Germany
Germany is a democratic, federal parliamentary republic, and federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. There is a multi-party system that, since 1949, has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union, the judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is out in the 1949 constitution, the Grundgesetz. West Germany was a member of the European Community in 1958. It is part of the Schengen Area, and has been a member of the eurozone since 1999 and it is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20 and the OECD. After 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany had Christian Democratic chancellors for 20 years until a coalition of Social Democrats, since 1982, Christian Democratic leader Helmut Kohl was chancellor in a coalition with the Liberals for 16 years. In this period fell the reunification of Germany, in 1990, on the GDR territory, five Länder were established or reestablished. The two parts of Berlin united as one Land, the political system of the Federal Republic remained more or less unchanged.
Specific provisions for the former GDR territory were enabled via the treaty between the Federal Republic and the GDR prior to the unification day of October 3rd,1990. After 16 years of the Christian–Liberal coalition, led by Helmut Kohl, SPD vice chairman Gerhard Schröder positioned himself as a centrist candidate, in contradiction to the leftist SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine. The Kohl government was hurt at the polls by slower growth in the East in the previous two years, and constantly high unemployment. The final margin of victory was high to permit a red-green coalition of the SPD with Alliance 90/The Greens. Initial problems of the new government, marked by disputes between the moderate and traditional left wings of the SPD, resulted in some voter disaffection. Lafontaine left the government in early 1999, the CDU won in some important state elections but was hit in 2000 by a party donation scandal from the Kohl years. As a result of this Christian Democratic Union crisis, Angela Merkel became chair, the next election for the Bundestag was on 22 September 2002.
Gerhard Schröder led the coalition of SPD and Greens to a victory over the Christian Democrat challengers headed by Edmund Stoiber. In its second term, the coalition lost several very important state elections. On 20 April 2003, chancellor Schröder announced massive labor market reforms, called Agenda 2010, on 22 May 2005 the SPD received a devastating defeat in its former heartland, North Rhine-Westphalia
Reichstag building
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, constructed to house the Imperial Diet, of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, after its completion in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament, the modern Bundestag. The term Reichstag, when used to connote a diet, dates back to the Holy Roman Empire, the building was built for the Diet of the German Empire, which was succeeded by the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic. The latter would become the Reichstag of Nazi Germany, which left the building after the 1933 fire and never returned, in todays usage, the German word Reichstag refers mainly to the building, while Bundestag refers to the institution. Construction of the building began well after the unification of Germany in 1871, after lengthy negotiations, the Raczyński Palace was purchased and demolished, making way for the new building. In 1882, another architectural contest was held, with 200 architects participating and this time the winner, the Frankfurt architect Paul Wallot, would actually see his Neo-Baroque project executed.
The direct model for Wallots design was Philadelphias Memorial Hall, the building of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Some of the Reichstags decorative sculptures and inscriptions were by sculptor Otto Lessing, on 29 June 1884, the foundation stone was finally laid by Wilhelm I, at the east side of the Königsplatz. Before construction was completed by Philipp Holzmann A. G. in 1894 and his eventual successor, Wilhelm II, took a more jaundiced view of parliamentary democracy than his grandfather. The original building was acclaimed for the construction of a cupola of steel and glass. But its mixture of architectural styles drew widespread criticism, the building continued to be the seat of the parliament of the Weimar Republic, which was still called the Reichstag. The building caught fire on 27 February 1933, under circumstances still not entirely known, during the 12 years of National Socialist rule, the Reichstag building was not used for parliamentary sessions. Instead, the few times that the Reichstag convened at all, it did so in the Kroll Opera House, the main meeting hall of the building was instead used for propaganda presentations and, during World War II, for military purposes.
It was considered for conversion to a tower but was found to be structurally unsuitable. The building, having never fully repaired since the fire, was further damaged by air raids. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it one of the central targets for the Red Army to capture due to its perceived symbolic significance. Today, visitors to the building can still see Soviet graffiti on walls inside as well as on part of the roof. Yevgeny Khaldei took the picture, Raising a flag over the Reichstag
Bundesrat of Germany
The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the national level. The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin and its second seat is located in the former West German capital of Bonn. For its similar function, it is described as an upper house of parliament along the lines of the US Senate. Bundesrath was the name of similar bodies in the North German Confederation and its predecessor in the Weimar Republic was the Reichsrat. The political makeup of the Bundesrat is affected by changes in power in the states of Germany, each state delegation in the Bundesrat is essentially a representation of the state government and reflects the political makeup of the ruling majority or plurality of each state legislature. The German Bundesrat was first founded, together with the North German Confederation and it was continued under the same name and with the same functions by the German Empire, in 1871. Under the Weimar Constitution,1919, it was replaced by the Reichsrat, whilst appointed by state governments just as today, the delegates of the original Bundesrat—as those of the Reichsrat—were usually high-ranking civil servants, not cabinet members.
The original Bundesrat was very powerful, every bill needed its consent and it could also, with the Emperors agreement, dissolve the Reichstag. The Reichsrat of the Weimar Republic had considerably less influence, since it could only veto bills—and even be overruled by the Reichstag, overruling the Reichsrat needed a majority of two-thirds in the Reichstag, which consisted of many parties differing in opinion. So, in most cases, bills vetoed by the Reichsrat failed due to the lack of unity among the Reichstags constituent parties. The Bundesrat met in the building as the Reichstag and Bundestag from 1871 until 2000. The composition of the Bundesrat, 1871–1919, was as follows, Bundesrat members are not elected—either by popular vote or by the state parliaments—but are delegated by the respective state government. Normally, a state consists of the Minister President and other cabinet ministers. The state cabinet may appoint as many delegates as the state has votes, in any case, the state has to cast its votes en bloc, i. e. without vote splitting.
As state elections are not coordinated across Germany and can occur at any time, the number of votes a state is allocated is based on a form of degressive proportionality according to its population. This way, smaller states have more votes than a proportional to the population would grant. The allocation of votes is regulated by the German constitution, all of a states votes are cast en bloc—either for or against or in abstention of a proposal. Each state is allocated at least three votes, and a maximum of six, states with more than 2 million inhabitants have 4 votes,6 million inhabitants have 5 votes,7 million inhabitants have 6 votes
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire.
After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD.
The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
Germany portal 
.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)