In Germany, the President of the Bundesrat or President of the Federal Council is the chairperson or speaker of the Bundesrat. He or she is elected by the Bundesrat for a term of one year. Traditionally, the Presidency of the Bundesrat rotates among the leaders of the sixteen state governments. This is however only an established praxis, theoretically the Bundesrat is free to elect any member it chooses, and a President could also be re-elected. As well as acting as a chairperson the President of the Bundesrat is ex officio deputy of the President of Germany. The President of the Bundesrat convenes and chairs plenary sessions of the body and is formally responsible for representing the Federal Republic in the Bundesrat. He or she is aided by two vice-presidents who play an advisory role and deputise in the president's absence. The three together constitute the Präsidium of the Bundesrat. The 74th and current President of the Bundesrat is Dietmar Woidke, the Minister President of Brandenburg, whose one-year term started on 1 November 2019.
Election
The President of the Bundesrat usually is elected in October of a given year, and serves from November 1 until the 31 October in the year that follows. The Basic Law merely provides, in Article 52.1, that "the Bundesrat elects its President for one year". However, in practice the position rotates among the states equally, in accordance with a predetermined order. The order in which the position rotates from one Land to another is altered periodically and is determined by population, the presidency descending in order from the most populous states to the least. This rotation is a constitutional convention known as the “Königstein agreement”, having been formulated at a 1950 seating in Königstein im Taunus, Hessen. The Königsstein agreement also states that, if the sitting President of the Bundesrat exits his office as Minister President of his or her state the new Minister President of that state is elected President of the Bundesrat subsequently, but only to complete his or her predecessors term; the last time this occurred was in April 1999, when Hans Eichel, President of the Bundesrat and Minister President of Hesse, had lost the 1999 Hesse state election and his successor Roland Koch served the end of his term until October 1999. The current order of rotation of the presidency of the Bundesrat - related to the number of inhabitants, from highest to lowest - is as follows:
Article 57 of the Basic Law provides that: If the office of the Federal President falls vacant, the President of the Bundesrat fills in as acting head of state. If the president resigns, dies, or is removed from office, a successor is elected within thirty days. Three Presidents of the Bundesrat have served as acting head of state:
If the Federal President is abroad on a state visit the President of the Bundesrat does not assume all of the Federal President's responsibilities but may "deputise" for him or her, performing on the Federal President's behalf merely those tasks that require his or her physical presence, such as the signing of documents.
