Referendums in Germany

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Referendums in Germany are an element of direct democracy. On the federal level only two types of a mandatory binding referendum exist – adopting a new constitution and regional referendums in case of restructuring the states. On the state level, all states have various types of statewide and municipal referendums.

Forms of Referendums[]

The German referendum system differentiate between three types.

  • Volksbegehren (literally people's request) is a citizens' initiative – if the state parliament ignores the request it could directly lead into a "Volksentscheid"
  • Volksbefragung (literally people's inquiry) is a non-binding ballot question and
  • Volksentscheid (literally people's decision) is a binding plebiscite.

The term Volksinitiative (people's initiative) is a synonym of Volksbegehren. On the municipal level the three types are paralleled with

  • Bürgerbegehren (literally citizens' request) as the local citizens' initiative
  • Bürgerbefragung (literally citizens' inquiry) for a local non-binding ballot question and
  • Bürgerentscheid (literally citizens' decision) for a local binding plebiscite.

Note that in the city states the state citizens' initiative types are commonly called Bürgerbegehren while being at the same legal level as Volksbegehren in other states. Note that the term "Bürgerinitiative" (literally citizens' initiative) is used informally for non-partisan local campaign organizations (political action groups).

Federal concept[]

Following World War II the new republic was founded with only minor elements of direct democracy. At the federal level, there are only two mandatory constitutional referendum types. One type is for enacting a new constitution. Changes to the constitution do not require a public vote and there is no provision for an initiative for a constitutional amendment. There has never been a referendum of this type, although there was an argument in that direction during German reunification. The other type requires a regional public vote in case of restructuring the States (Neugliederung des Bundesgebietes, "New Arrangement of the Federal Territory") which led to a number of effectless referendums to recreate states or change the territory of a state. In addition there was a referendum on the merger of Baden and Württemberg into Baden-Württemberg in 1951 (accepted) and a referendum on the merger of Berlin and Brandenburg into Berlin-Brandenburg in 1996 (rejected).

Bundesländer[]

Originally, only some of the Bundesländer (federated states of Germany) had provisions for a general binding referendum (Volksentscheid, "people's decision") on popular initiatives (Volksbegehren, "people's request"), with Hesse and Bavaria also having a mandatory binding referendum on changes to the state constitution. Over the years all states have changed their constitutions to allow various types of statewide and municipal referendums. In all states, there is now a general right for referendums on statewide popular initiatives, which was used in Hamburg to push the state government to pass a law on a facultative binding state referendum in 2007. Most states have a form of non-binding ballot question (Volksbefragung, "people's inquiry") which has rarely been used - the most important of these had been the 1955 Saar Statute referendum. General forms of direct democracy were introduced in the communities with facultative ballot questions (Bürgerbefragung, "citizens' inquiry") and public initiatives (Bürgerbegehren, "citizens' request") which are both non-binding. In some areas, this has been expanded into a binding referendum type (Bürgerentscheid, "citizens' decision").

Initiative quorum[]

Following World War II the right to petition to the government was installed with high barriers. Any popular initiative had to filed with the authorities and the signatories have to identify before their signature is accepted. This is called "Amtseintragung" (literally administrative inscription) in most legal areas. The other type is commonly referred to as "Freie Sammlung" (literally free collection) where letters may be accumulated before being handed over. Naturally some of the latter signatures are found to be illegal which can be a source of dispute.

In order to push the government the initiative must reach a certain amount of valid signatures. The "quorum" is defined differently by each state.

Referendums in Germany by State
State Legal foundation Signature quorum /
time limit / collection type		 Excluded of topics
Baden-Württemberg Art. 59 und 60 of the state constitution;
§§ 25–39 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz		 16.67 %
14 days
Amtseintragung		 Abgabengesetze,
Besoldungsgesetze,
Staatshaushaltsgesetz
Bavaria Art. 18(3), 71, 72(1) und 74 of the state constitution;
Art. 63–74 of the Landeswahlgesetz		 10 %
(1,000,000
when demanding reelections)
14 days
Amtseintragung		 Staatshaushalt
see also: → de:Volksgesetzgebung in Bayern
Berlin Art. 59, 62, 63 of the state constitution;
§§ 10–28 of the Abstimmungsgesetz		 7% (20% for constitutional changes)
4 months
Freie Sammlung		 Landeshaushaltsgesetz, Abgaben,
Tarife öffentlicher Unternehmen,
Personalentscheidungen
see also: → de:Volksgesetzgebung in Berlin
Brandenburg Art. 22 of the state constitution;
§§13–25, 56 und 60 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz		 80,000 (200,000
when demanding reelections)
4 Monate
Amtseintragung		 Landeshaushalt,
Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge,
Abgaben, Personalentscheidungen
Bremen Art. 70 und 71 of the state constitution;
§§ 8–21 of the "Gesetz über das Verfahren beim Volksentscheid"		 10% (20% when demanding constitutional changes or reelections)
3 months
Freie Sammlung		 Haushaltsplan, Dienstbezüge,
Steuern, Abgaben, Gebühren
Hamburg Art. 50 der state constitution;
§§ 6–17 des Volksabstimmungsgesetzes		 5 %
21 days
Freie Sammlung		 Bundesratsinitiativen,
Haushaltspläne, Abgaben,
Tarife der öffentlichen Unternehmen,
Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge
see also: → de:Volksgesetzgebung (Hamburg)
Hesse Art. 124 of the state constitution;
§§ 1–15 of the Volksbegehrensgesetz		 20 %
14 days
Amtseintragung		 Haushaltsplan,
Abgabengesetze,
Besoldungsordnungen,
Verfassungsänderungen
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Art. 60 of the state constitution;
§§ 11–17 of the VaG;
§§ 1–8 of the Durchführungsverordnung		 120,000
no time limit
Freie Sammlung		 Haushaltsgesetze,
Abgabengesetze,
Besoldungsgesetze
Lower Saxony Art. 48 of the state constitution;
§§ 12–23 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz;
§ 62d of the Geschäftsordnung des Landtages		 10 %
6 months
Freie Sammlung		 Landeshaushalt,
öffentliche Abgaben,
Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge
North Rhine-Westphalia Art. 2, 68 und 69 of the state constitution;
§§ 6–21 of the VIVBVEG;
§§ 2–8 of the Durchführungsverordnung VIVBVEG		 8 %
8 weeks
Amtseintragung		 Finanzfragen,
Abgabengesetze,
Besoldungsordnungen
Rhineland-Palatinate Art. 107–109 of the state constitution;
§§ 61–76 of the Landeswahlgesetz;
§§ 75–83 of the Landeswahlordnung		 300,000
2 months
Amtseintragung		 Finanzfragen,
Abgabengesetze,
Besoldungsordnung
Saarland Art. 61, 99 und 100 of the state constitution;
§§ 2–13 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz;
§§ 1–7 of the Volksabstimmungsordnung		 20 %
14 days
Amtseintragung		 may not include topics with financial implications,[1]
Abgaben, Besoldungen,
Staatsleistungen, Staatshaushalt,
Verfassungsänderungen
Saxony Art. 70, 72–74 of the state constitution;
§§ 16–25 des VVVG		 450.000
6–8 months[2]
Freie Sammlung		 Abgaben-, Besoldungs-,
Haushaltsgesetz
Sachsen-Anhalt Art. 81 of the state constitution;
§§ 10–19 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz		 11 %
6 months
Freie Sammlung		 Haushaltsgesetze,
Abgabengesetze,
Besoldungsregelungen
Schleswig-Holstein Art. 42 der state constitution;
§§ 11–19 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz		 5 %
6 months
Amtseintragung		 Landeshaushalt,
Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge,
öffentliche Abgaben
Thuringia Art. 81 und 82 of the state constitution;
§§ 9–18 of the "Gesetzes über Verfahren beim Bürgerantrag, Volksbegehren und Volksentscheid"		 10% (8%)
4 months (2 months)
Freie Sammlung (Amtseintragung)		 Landeshaushalt,
Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge,
Abgaben und Personalentscheidungen
Federal Republic of Germany[3] Art. 29 GG Abs. 4–6 GG;
§§ 14, 24, 26 und 36 of the law on referendums and initiatives ("Gesetzes über das Verfahren bei Volksentscheid, Volksbegehren und Volksbefragung") in 29 GG Abs. 6 GG
§§ 1–45 und 93 of the regulation on conduct ("Verordnung zur Durchführung des Gesetzes nach Art. 29 GG Abs. 6 GG")		 10% of the voters
in the affected area		 the referendum may only target questions of territory changes (see de:Neugliederung des Bundesgebietes")

Official collection[]

In the context of direct democracy, an official collection of signatures in Germany,refers to the collection of petition signatures for a referendum under supervision in a town hall or at other officially determined locations (normally a government building).[citation needed] This is in contrast to the more common free collection, where people may sign a petition that is freely circulated by the public. In a few German federal states, official collection is also required by law for the collection of campaign signatures for local elections.[citation needed]

In the German state of Brandenburg as a reaction to the criticism of the official collection, including from the SPD and Die Linke political parties[4] a reform in 2012 created the possibility for municipal administrations to be able to determine further registration offices (e.g. bank and post office branches, shops).[5][6]

Notable referendums in Germany[]

Territory of the Saar Basin (1920–1935)
Saar Protectorate (1947–1956)
Eastern Germany (1949–1990)
post-1990 Germany

References[]

  1. ^ Die Formulierung in der saarländischen Verfassung ist die restriktivste in Deutschland. Faktisch sind alle Volksbegehren unzulässig, die irgendeine finanzielle Auswirkung haben würden, also auch Gesetzesvorschläge die Einsparungen zur Folge hätten.
  2. ^ Art. 72 Sächsische Verfassung sieht vor, dass die Frist mindestens 6 Monate beträgt, § 20 VVVG bestimmt, dass die Frist maximal 8 Monate beträgt.
  3. ^ Ein Volksbegehren ist nur für den Fall der Gebietsneugliederung nach Art. 29 GG Abs. 4–6 GG möglich. Das Volksbegehren findet nicht bundesweit, sondern nur in dem eine Neugliederung begehrendem Gebiet statt.
  4. ^ Über 500 Unterschriften gegen Amtseintragung gesammelt at the Wayback Machine (archived June 17, 2016(Date mismatch)), Märkische Oderzeitung.
  5. ^ "Mehr Demokratie für Brandenburg oder viel Lärm um nichts? | Brandenburgische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung". www.politische-bildung-brandenburg.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-07-18.
  6. ^ Kost, Andreas; Solar, Marcel (2018-09-21). Lexikon Direkte Demokratie in Deutschland (in German). Springer-Verlag. p. 19. ISBN 978-3-658-21783-9.
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