|
|
| Re: (EUEUEUEUEU) Germany ready to ''take the lead'' in Europe and the world (939568) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > OTChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: (EUEUEUEUEU) Germany ready to ''take the lead'' in Europe and the world |
|
|
Posted by WillD on Tue May 8 03:37:21 2012, in response to Re: (EUEUEUEUEU) Germany ready to ''take the lead'' in Europe and the world, posted by mr mabstoa on Tue May 8 02:39:32 2012. If you didn't understand what I wrote I'd be happy to explain anything you didn't happen to catch.For starters the Bundesrat is (in theory) the upper house of the German Parliament, above the more widely known Bundestag. The Prussian House of Lords goes back to the 19th century, but after WWII as the West German government was reconstituted its role was strengthened and it effectively has become the emergency brake of German politics. The body itself is made up of delegations from each of the 16 German states and city states with votes apportioned by, but not proportional to, the population of each area. Unlike the US Senate, these delegations are composed of coalitions formed within the state, and thus each state votes as one bloc with all its votes. The Bundesrat has the ability to veto legislation passed in the Bundestag, and while the veto can be overridden by a 2/3rds majority in the 'lower' house this can preclude the sort of runaway slim majority which got Germany into such trouble in the 1930s. |
|
(There are no responses to this message.)
|
|