X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Bundesrat


Terminology related to Germany

An organ called Bundesrat exists in all three of them, in Switzerland it is the government and in Germany and Austria the house of regional representatives.

Upper house

The German Bundesrat is composed of members of the cabinets of the German states, in most cases the state premier and several ministers; they are delegated and can be recalled anytime.


Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust

His most famous descendant is Ole von Beust (born 13 April 1955, in Hamburg, Germany), who has been the First Mayor of the city-state of Hamburg since 31 October 2001, also serving as President of the Bundesrat since 1 November 2007 for one year.

Federal City

Since April 28, 1994, it is the second official residence of the President of Germany, the Chancellor of Germany, the Bundesrat (upper house), the first official residence of six federal ministries and approximately 20 federal authorities.

Friedrich von Hollmann

On 22 April 1890, Hollmann became a member of the Federal Council (Bundesrat, upper house of the Parliament) and State Secretary of the German Imperial Naval Office (Reichsmarineamt) in the cabinet of Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, following the resignation of Karl Eduard Heusner.

Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Berlin

In recognition of the special status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, and HKETO Berlin, an ordinance was passed in February 2009 by the Bundesrat of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Ludwig von Falkenhausen

In February 1895 he was appointed representative in the Bundesrat.

North Rhine-Westphalia state election, 2005

For much of 2004, there had been speculation that if the opposition Christian Democratic Union were to win this election, they would gain a two-thirds majority in the national upper house, the Bundesrat, and force a new election for the Bundestag by making the country ungovernable for Gerhard Schröder's coalition.

Recognition of same-sex unions in Germany

On 22 March 2013, the Bundesrat passed an initiative proposed by 5 states, which would open marriage to same-sex couples.

In June 2011, the Senate of Hamburg, following CDU losses in state elections around the country, also announced its intention to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in the Bundesrat, the federal representation of the German states.

Saarländischer Rundfunk

The station carried programming for immigrant workers and, from 1 March 1999, coverage of debates in the Bundestag and Bundesrat (German parliament).

Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem

In 1999 the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) nominated the politically unaffiliated scholar Hoffman-Riem as judge of the Federal Constitutional Court, and he was subsequently elected by the Bundesrat.


see also