Federal Government Bundesregierung | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the Federal Government | |
| Polity type | Federal parliamentary republic |
| Constitution | Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany |
| Formation | 15 September 1949 |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | Bundestag |
| Meeting place | Reichstag building |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state | |
| Title | Federal President |
| Currently | Frank-Walter Steinmeier |
| Appointer | Federal Convention |
| Head of government | |
| Title | Federal Chancellor |
| Currently | Olaf Scholz |
| Appointer | Federal President |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Federal Government |
| Leader | Federal Chancellor |
| Appointer | Federal President (on advice of the Federal Chancellor) |
| Headquarters | Federal Chancellery |
| Judicial branch | |
| Federal Constitutional Court | |
| Seat | Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg |
| This article is part of a series on the |
| Politics of Germany |
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The Federal Cabinet (German: Bundeskabinett pronounced [ˈbʊndəskabiˌnɛt] ), or according to the German Basic Law, the Federal Government (German: Bundesregierung), is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organisation, as well as the method of its election and appointment, along with the procedure for its dismissal, are set down in articles 62 through 69 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz).
In contrast to the system under the Weimar Republic, the Bundestag may only dismiss the Chancellor with a constructive vote of no confidence (electing a new Chancellor at the same time) and can thereby only choose to dismiss the Chancellor with their entire cabinet and not simply individual ministers. These procedures and mechanisms were put in place to prevent election of a new Adolf Hitler and to ensure that there will not be a political vacuum left by the removal of Chancellor through a vote of confidence and the failure to elect a new one in their place, as had happened during the Weimar period with the Reichstag removing Chancellors but failing to agree on the election of a new one.
If the Chancellor loses a simple confidence motion (without the election of a new Chancellor by the Bundestag), this does not force them out of office, but allows the Chancellor, if they wish to do so, to ask the President of Germany for the dissolution of the Bundestag, triggering a snap election within 60 days (this happened in 1972, 1983, and 2005), or to ask the President to declare a legislative state of emergency, which allows the cabinet to use a simplified legislative procedure, in which bills proposed by the cabinet only need the consent of the Bundesrat (as yet, this has never been applied). The President is, however, not bound to follow the Chancellor's request in both cases.
The Chancellor and the other members of the cabinet are allowed to be also members of the Bundestag (though they are not required to be).