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Parliament at the end of their period in office as seven out of eight of them do.
The strong link between the Bundestag and the Cabinet is the most important of the institutional relationships in the German political system. However, the steadily growing importance of the link between the Bundesrat and the Bundestag also deserves recognition. This link reflects the vertical integration of the governmental system between the federal and state levels. The proportion of laws requiring Bundesrat approval has grown steadily through the history of the Federal Republic, and reached sixty percent during the tenth Bundestag. This reflects the decline of the policy making power of the separate Laender and the expanding jurisdiction of the Federation. Thanks to the effectiveness of the conference committee, only a tiny proportion of all bills fail to pass because of the difference between the two Houses, but without doubt the influence of the House representing the state governments was strong from the outset and has grown stronger in the national legislative process. The members of the Bundesrat are furthermore actively in evidence both in the plenary sessions of the Bundestag and in its committees. this respect the relationship between Bundestag and Bundesrat regulates the relationship between the states and the Federation.
In
From its relationship to the Federal Constitutional Court the Bundestag both enjoys influence and suffers constraint. The Bundestag participates in the selection of the members of the Court and it has standing before the Court, such standing being available at the request of as few as one-third of the members of the Bundestag. On the other hand legislation enacted by Parliament can be invalidated by the Court as unconstitutional. Over fifty federal statutes have been struck down by a Court that has not refrained from dealing with highly controversial and highly political issues. Thus as petitioner before the Court and object of its jurisdiction, the Bundestag is far more directly involved in the interpretation of the Basic Law than are other democratic parliaments.
Historical Roots
I have suggested that the Bundestag is not only highly institutionalized but that it is central to the political system, to the composition of the cabinet, to the integration of the federal system, to the interpretation of constitutional law, and to the process of policy making. An understanding of the Bundestag as a particular type of parliament also requires an examination of the respects in which it is the indigenous product of German parliamentary history. At least since the gathering of the National Assembly in Frankfurt in eighteen forty-eight, Parliament has been a symbol of the existence of
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