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Bundesrat

The German Bundesrat (literally "Federal Council), or upper house of parliament, is a legislative body that represents the 16 federal states of Germany at the national level.

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All Content on this topic

A job advertisement with the abbreviations m/f/d (male, female, diverse) can be seen on a tablet

Germany's Bundesrat passes gender self-identification law

Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, has passed the country's Self Determination Act.
PoliticsMay 17, 2024
Federal state representatives taking part in the Bundesrat session

German Bundesrat shoots down whistleblower protection law

An draft law from the German government to bring the country in line with EU directives has been stopped for now.
PoliticsFebruary 10, 2023
A member of the upper house of German parliament votes in the Bundesrat

Germany approves welfare reform, extends nuclear power

The Bundesrat approved measures aimed at helping people hit hard by high energy prices and the cost-of-living crisis.
PoliticsNovember 25, 2022
Demonstrators hold placards in front of police officers during a protest against the government's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, near the Reichstag

Police break up Berlin protests on tougher COVID rules

Large crowds protested the government's latest push to enforce coronavirus restrictions until police stepped in.
PoliticsNovember 18, 2020
Bundesrat members raise their hands to vote during a session

Coronavirus: German aid package gets final approval

The healthcare system, and workers and companies in dire straits are to receive state help on an unprecedented scale.
PoliticsMarch 27, 2020
Frimmersdorf power station in Germany

German upper house approves amended climate plans

Germany's Bundesrat has approved the government's climate package after it was amended by a mediation committee.
Nature and EnvironmentDecember 20, 2019
Cooling towers at a coal-fired power plant

German climate plans on ice over tax dispute

The entire climate package aims to ensure Germany meets its carbon emissions goals.
PoliticsNovember 29, 2019
Euro currency depicted in front of a highway sign

Germany counts cost of failed autobahn plan

A halted scheme to introduce tolls on highways has left a €53 million-sized hole in the public purse.
Cars and TransportationJune 25, 2019
A man standing on an e-scooter

German Cabinet paves the way for e-scooters

The transport minister says the vehicles represent progress, critics call them a plague.
Cars and TransportationApril 3, 2019
A student uses a tablet at school

Germany's education system to go digital

Schools are set to move into the digital era, after Germany's upper house voted to change the constitution.
TechnologyMarch 15, 2019
Far-right Germans holding NPD placards

German Cabinet OKs motion to cut off NPD from state funding

Berlin will ask the Constitutional Court to alter party funding laws in order to cut off the neo-Nazi NPD.
PoliticsApril 18, 2018
Landwirtschaft Düngen (Symbolbild)

Germany tightens water quality precautions

Germany's second parliamentary chamber has adopted tighter fertilizing rules as a step to restoring water quality.
PoliticsNovember 24, 2017
Women in burqas

Bundesrat approves 'burqa ban' for drivers

The upper house of Germany's parliament beefed up traffic laws and enacted a new ban on facial covering while driving.
PoliticsSeptember 22, 2017
A rainbow flag flies in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

Same-sex marriage bill clears German upper house

Germany's equal marriage bill has been approved in the Bundesrat, meaning the president can now sign it into law.
PoliticsJuly 7, 2017
Jamaican flag in front of the German Bundestag

Will complicated coalitions shape German election?

A three-party coalition in the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein could complicate voting at the Bundesrat.
PoliticsJune 28, 2017
Anlegen einer Elektronische Fußfessel

Germany adopts GPS shackles

Germany's upper chamber has backed the fitting of electronic ankle bracelets to terror suspects.
PoliticsMay 12, 2017
Deutschland Autobahn Symbolbild

Germany's highway toll green-lit in Bundesrat

Germany's regional governments have given up their objections to the much-contested highway toll.
Cars and TransportationMarch 31, 2017
PKW-Maut in Deutschland

Germany slaps toll on autobahns

The German parliament has finally passed a toll on highways - a key demand of the government's conservative wing.
Cars and TransportationMarch 24, 2017
Flüchtlinge aus Nordafrika

Bundesrat rejects Maghreb 'safe state' law

The German parliament's upper chamber rejected a law that would have allowed quicker deportations to North Africa.
PoliticsMarch 10, 2017
Symbolbild Reichsbürger

Bundesrat seeks to block neo-Nazis from funds

The Bundesrat submitted a draft law barring the far-right NPD from federal finances to which it is entitled.
PoliticsFebruary 10, 2017

German parliament approves new rape law

The Bundesrat passes a new law which no longer requires that the victim physically resist her attacker to prove rape.
September 23, 2016
Bundesrat Außenansicht

Bundesrat puts off safe countries of origin vote

The parliamentary vote on recognizing three North African countries as safe countries of origin has been postponed.
June 17, 2016
Deutschland Jan Böhmermann in Köln

German state pushes to scrap lese majeste law

Politicians in Germany are preparing a motion which might protect German satirist Böhmermann in the defamation case.
April 20, 2016
Deutschland NPD Verbotsverfahren

Judge: Neo-Nazi NPD's defense 'thin'

German states have pressed far-right NPD ban at constitutional court.
March 2, 2016
Deutschland Flüchtlinge in Berlin

Germany's upper house rules on asylum changes

The Bundesrat is discussing a new round of asylum regulations as refugees continue to arrive.
February 26, 2016
Berlin Bundesrat Rede Gauck 25. Jubiläum des gesamtdeutschen Bundesrats

Gauck blasts handling of refugee crisis

Germany's head of state has addressed the upper house Bundesrat, making him the first president ever to do so.
November 27, 2015
BdT Deutschland Abstimmung zur Gleichstellung homosexueller Partnerschaften

German upper house backs gay marriage

Representatives of Germany's state governments have pressured Berlin to allow marriage for same-sex couples.
June 12, 2015
Symbolbild - Gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe

Gremany considers same-sex marriage

Germany's upper house of parliament backs gay marriage, urging Angela Merkel's government to enshrine it in law.
June 12, 2015
Refugees wait at the entrance of the central place where newly arrived refugees have to register near the "Bayernkaserne" refugee accommodation in Munich, southern Germany, on October 14, 2014. CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images

More chances for young refugees?

The German upper house has urged amendments to a proposed reform of asylum laws.
February 6, 2015
Bundesrat Abstimmung zur Verschärfung des Asylrechts 19.09.2014

Berlin ups refugee aid to states

Faced with tens of thousands more refugees entering Germany this year, the federal government has announced it will give states more money for refugee services. The massive influx has strained a number of cities.
November 28, 2014
Symbolbild - Rentner

German nursing care reformed

Germany's second parliamentary chamber has endorsed reforms of nursing care for the elderly and infirmed, including those tended at home by family members. The lower house Bundestag had passed the legislation in October.
November 7, 2014
Deutschland Kundgebung vom Flüchtlingsrat Berlin vor dem Bundesrat

Bundesrat asylum law reform

The Bundesrat backed parliamentary reforms to the laws regulating asylum applications.
September 19, 2014
Flüchtlingskind in Ingelheim 27.09.2013

Germany changes asylum law

Germany's Bundesrat upper house of parliament has endorsed asylum law changes. Former war-torn Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia have been declared safe, making it easier for German authorities to send back asylum-seekers.
September 19, 2014
A Serbian family sits on a couch, watching TV

Doubts about Western Balkans as 'safe countries of origin'

The German Green Party is trying to block the designation of three Balkan countries as "safe."
September 19, 2014
Deutschland Energie Solar-Park Inden

Berlin revises energy plan

Germany's parliament has voted to revise the country's green power subsidies and surcharges system, ostensibly to rein in costs. Critics say households will foot the bill for 45 percent renewables in Germany by 2025.
June 27, 2014
Deutschland Iran Symbolbild Doppelte Staatsbürgerschaft Reisepass

German citizenship law debated

A plan by Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition to slightly modify Germany's strict citizenship law for young residents of foreign origin has been criticized by opposition parties. They say the move is insufficient.
March 12, 2014

Executive pay law stopped

The German parliament’s upper house, the Bundesrat, has blocked a draft law that would give shareholders a say in executive pay. The vote in the opposition-dominated Bundesrat came two days ahead of elections.
September 20, 2013
Ein reflektierender Rückstrahler (Katzenauge) an einem Fahrrad, aufgenommen am Dienstag (05.02.2008) in Obertshausen. Foto: Frank May +++(c) dpa - Report+++

Bike lights and tax fights

On the final day before its recess, Germany's Bundesrat upper parliamentary chamber has passed a flurry of bills. Same-sex couples can celebrate a win in tax equality, but cyclists with the wrong lights got bad news.
July 5, 2013
Michael Beckereit at a conference on Fracking Photo: Bodo Marks/dpa

Germans oppose fracking

Germans are concerned about the risks of fracking, a method to produce oil and gas.
June 1, 2013
Rainer Bruederle, top candidate of Germany's Free DemocratIc Party (FDP) for this year's general elections, delivers his speech during the second day of an extraordinary FDP Party meeting in Nuremberg May 5, 2013. Germany's Free Democrats fighting to renew their coalition with Angela Merkel's conservatives in September's election, could face damaging new splits when they thrash out a position on a minimum wage at their weekend congress. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS)

FDP seeks re-election

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's FDP coalition partners began their campaign to remain in government, criticizing the opposition and citing German prosperity as a reason for them to stay in power.
May 5, 2013
File picture shows a boy at a demonstration rally of supporters of the extreme right National Democratic Party of Germany

A second attempt

A new attempt is being made to ban the far-right NPD, but not everyone supports it.
April 25, 2013
ILLUSTRATION - Eine Geschäftsfrau mit Aktenordnern telefoniert, aufgenommen am 01.09.2009 in Frankfurt (Oder). Die Bundesregierung will bei der Frauenquote rasch ernst machen. Um das richtige Konzept streiten die zuständigen Ministerinnen aber noch: Während die Bundesarbeitsministerin einen 30-Prozent-Schlüssel für Vorstände und Aufsichtsräte festschreiben will, wirbt die Familienministerin für eine flexible Quote. CSU und Wirtschaftsvertreter lehnten jede Art von Quote vehement ab. Foto: Patrick Pleul dpa +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++

Boardroom quota delay?

Politicians within Chancellor Angela Merkel's government have suggested delaying talks on a minimum quota for female executives in companies. A lower-house debate and vote set for Thursday had presented a dilemma.
April 15, 2013
A close-up photo of two men's hands, with wedding rings, touching. (Photo: Julian Stratenschulte dpa)

Caught in election crossfire

Germany's opposition-controlled upper house of parliament has passed two draft laws: one for a minimum wage and another for equal tax status for gay couples. It's no coincidence that they come in an election year.
March 1, 2013
Wooden gavel and books on wooden table,on brown background © Africa Studio #46546734

Blocked bills

The opposition makes Angela Merkel's political life difficult by looking to block new laws.
February 28, 2013
A skinhead at and NPD rally d

Bundesrat takes on far-right

Germany’s 16 states have decided to launch an attempt to get the extreme-right NPD party banned. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government would get behind the bid.
December 14, 2012

Parliamentary first

The upper chamber of the German parliament has its first president from the Green Party.
November 3, 2012
Travelers board a long-distance bus in Berlin

Get on the bus

A new law has been approved by Germany's upper house that clears the way for companies to offer long-distance bus routes in the country. Previously, protections in place for Germany's rail network had prevented this.
November 2, 2012
A police officer stands guard in Zwickau

Neo-Nazi database

German authorities want to fight right-wing extremism with a centralized neo-Nazi register.
July 7, 2012

Final hurdles

Both houses of the German parliament have agreed to the European bailout fund and the fiscal pact.
June 30, 2012
The German Bundestag. Foto: Maurizio Gambarini dpa/lbn

ESM faces domestic challenge

Opponents of new eurozone measures have asked Germany's highest court to block the plans. On Friday, parliament overwhelmingly approved an EU growth pact and the European Stability Mechanism.
June 30, 2012