Index
In 1957, Germany was one of the six founding members of today’s EU, along with France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The EU is currently made up of 27 states; the euro is the official currency in 20 of them. For Germany, European integration forms the basis for peace, security and prosperity. One of the key factors is the single European market. Germany also supports the integration of additional members in the EU..
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The Federal Government and cabinet is made up of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministers. While the Chancellor holds the power to issue directives, the ministers have departmental powers, meaning that they independently run their respective ministries in the framework of those directives. Moreover, the cabinet abides by the collegial principle, in disputes the Federal Government decides by majority. The affairs of state are managed by the Chancellor.
The respect and strengthening of human rights worldwide are a cornerstone of German Federal Government policy. Together with its EU partners it is committed to protecting and continually advancing human rights standards throughout the world. This occurs in close collaboration with the institutions of the United Nations, in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. German human rights policy adheres to a concrete commitment: Protecting people from the violation of their rights and basic freedoms and creating viable conditions for suppression, arbitrariness, and exploitation no longer have a chance. A claim that is derived from the Basic Law: Article 1 names human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and of justice in the world.
With its 57 member states, the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) is a comprehensive forum for cooperation at the pan-European level. OSCE missions are active above all in conflict prevention and management. Germany makes a substantial contribution to finance and man-power. The Secretary General of the OSCE is based in the Austrian capital Vienna.
→ osce.org
The German federal state is a complex entity. It consists of a central Federal Government and 16 federal states. The Basic Law lays out which issues fall within the ambit of the Federal Government and which devolve to the federal states. As such the federal system in Germany is similar to that of other federal countries. Public life in Germany is predominantly based on central laws. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity citizens, on the other hand, deal almost exclusively with state and local authorities acting on behalf of the federal states. The reason for this is the aim of the Basic Law to combine the advantages of a unified state with those of a federal state. In everyday life the citizens of other federal states have far more frequent dealings with representatives of central government.
The Basic Law stipulates that it be possible to compare living conditions throughout Germany. Essentially these are determined by economic and social policy. With regard to financial policy the German constitution accords the federal states considerable leeway in the financing of their duties. All high-revenue taxes are decreed by law, though this needs the approval of the Bundesrat, which represents the states at federal level. Part of these taxes goes to central government alone or to the federal states and another part, including the particularly lucrative taxes, is divided up between central government and the federal states. To this extent the German federal state resembles a centralized state. Nonetheless it is the federal states that control the major part of pan-state administration. This means that federalist elements dominate the state administrative systems. First, its own administrative system enforces the laws that apply in that particular state. In addition they also execute most central laws. Given the large number of duties passed down from central government to the federal states several of them have, in the past, had to take on enormous debts. In 2009 an amendment was made to the constitution forbidding them to raise further loans as of 2020 and limiting the amount of new debts central government can take on from 2016 – with a proviso for economic crisis situations – to a maximum of 0.35 percent of the gross domestic product (the debt ceiling).
There are three pan-state functions the individual federal states exercise on their own: schooling and tertiary education, internal security, including policing, as well as the organization of local self-government. Thanks to the wide-ranging rights pertaining to guaranteed participation they enjoy in the Bundesrat, the federal states receive a form of compensation for the fact that central government is the primary body determining legislation.
The United Nations (UN) has a key role to play in the international system. Germany has been a UN member since 1973. Since joining, Germany has taken on more and more responsibility and is now one of the largest donors and supporters of the United Nations. For example, Germany is the second largest contributor to the UN system as a whole and takes part in UN peace missions. Germany is also home to more than 30 UN institutions. The most important location is Bonn, the former capital of the Federal Republic of Germany before German reunification. Germany is committed to reforming the United Nations so that the international community can effectively tackle the diverse global challenges.