Editing President of Germany (section)

==Duties and functions==
[[File:Schloss Bellevue 2023.jpg|thumb|[[Bellevue Palace, Germany|Bellevue Palace]], Berlin (primary seat)]]
[[File:Villa Hammerschmidt - Frontansicht.jpg|thumb|[[Hammerschmidt Villa]], Bonn (secondary seat)]]
The president is involved in the formation of the Federal Government and remains in close cooperation with it. Basically, the president is free to act on his own discretion. However, according to Article 58 of the German constitution, the decrees, and directives of the president require the [[Countersign (legal)|countersignature]] of the chancellor or the corresponding federal minister in charge of the respective field of politics. This rule ensures the coherence of government action, similar to the system of checks and balances in the United States. There is no need for a countersignature if the president proposes, appoints, or dismisses the chancellor; convenes or dissolves the Bundestag according to Article 63; declares a legislative state of emergency; calls on a chancellor and ministers to remain in office after the end of a chancellor's term until a successor is elected; or exercises his right to pardon on behalf of the federation - as these are exclusive powers of the president.

Therefore, the president also receives the chancellor regularly for talks on current policy issues. German presidents also hold talks with individual federal ministers and other senior officials at their own discretion. The "Head of the Office of the President" represents the will and views of the president in the [[Cabinet of Germany|meetings of the Federal Cabinet]] and reports back to the president.<ref name="bundespraesident.de">{{Cite web|title=Article: Interaction between constitutional organs|url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/EN/Role-and-Functions/ConstitutionalBasis/InteractionBetweenConstitutionalOrgans/interactionbetweenconstitutionalorgans-node.html|access-date=21 February 2023|website=Der Bundespräsident|language=en}}</ref>

The president's most prominent powers and duties include:<ref name="bundespraesident.de" />

* Proposing the chancellor to the Bundestag
* Appointing and dismissing the chancellor and their cabinet ministers
* Dissolving the Bundestag under certain circumstances
* Declaring the legislative state of emergency under certain circumstances
* Convening the Bundestag
* Signing and promulgating laws or vetoing them under certain circumstances
* Appointing and dismissing federal judges, federal civil servants, and commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the Armed Forces
* Exercising the power to pardon individual offenders on behalf of the Federation
* Awarding honors on behalf of the Federation
* Representing Germany at home and abroad

===Appointment of the Federal Government===
After an election or other vacancy in the chancellor's office, the president must propose an individual to the Bundestag to be elected chancellor. The Bundestag is required to vote on this proposed candidate. If this vote fails, the right of nomination falls to the Bundestag, which is then given 14 days to elect another person. In either case, the President is obliged to appoint the person if a majority of the entire elected Bundestag, not just those present, votes for them (the so-called ''Kanzlermehrheit'', "Chancellor majority").

If the Bundestag cannot elect anyone with a majority in the 14-day period, it is required to hold one final ballot. If a person is elected with a majority on this ballot, the President is once again obliged to appoint them. If there is no majority, the President has seven days to either appoint the person who received a plurality of votes on the final ballot or dissolve the Bundestag. 

The chancellor may only be removed if the Bundestag passes a [[constructive vote of no confidence]], indicating that a prospective new chancellor has the support of a majority. The President is then required to dismiss the chancellor and appoint the new candidate.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book
  |title=Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland
  |at=Article 67
  |language=de }}</ref>

The president also appoints and dismisses the remaining members of the federal government upon proposal of the chancellor. This theoretically means that the president can appoint only those candidates presented by the chancellor. It is unclear whether the president could refuse to dismiss or appoint a proposed federal minister, as no president has ever done so.

The constitution places no restrictions on who may be chancellor. In practice, the president only proposes a person as chancellor who has previously garnered a majority support in prior coalition talks and traditionally does not interfere in those talks. However, after the "[[Jamaica coalition (politics)|Jamaica coalition]]" talks failed in the wake of the [[2017 German federal election|2017 election]], President Steinmeier invited several Bundestag party leaders to try to bring them together to form a working government.

===Other appointments===
The president appoints federal judges, federal civil servants, and military officers.

===Dissolution of the Bundestag===
Unlike the head of state in [[Westminster system]] parliamentary democracies, the President does not have the [[reserve power]] to unilaterally dissolve the Bundestag. The Bundestag also does not have the power to dissolve itself. Dissolution by the President can only occur in two scenarios caused by action of the Bundestag:

* The Bundestag fails to elect a chancellor within 14 days of an election or vacancy. The Bundestag is then required to hold one final ballot. If the vote still fails to obtain a majority for anyone, the President has seven days to either dissolve the Bundestag, or appoint the person receiving the plurality of votes as chancellor.
* The chancellor proposes a [[vote of confidence]] which fails. The chancellor may then advise the President to dissolve the Bundestag, which he may do within the shorter of 21 days or until a [[constructive vote of no confidence]] passes to replace the chancellor. The chancellor is not obliged to ask for a dissolution, nor is the President is obliged to grant one.<ref>{{cite book
  |title=Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland
  |at=Articles 67 and 68
  |language=de }}</ref>

The first scenario has never happened. The second has been used to call [[snap elections]] in [[1972 West German federal election|1972]], [[1983 West German federal election|1983]], [[2005 German federal election|2005]], and [[2025 German federal election|2025]], in all four cases with the incumbent chancellor asking his own party to vote down the confidence motion and obtaining a dissolution. Though the use of this strategy is controversial and the 1983 and 2005 cases resulted in complaints to the [[Federal Constitutional Court]], it has been upheld as lawful.

===Promulgation of the law===
All federal laws must be signed by the president before they can come into effect.<ref>{{cite book
  |title=Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland
  |at=Article 82
  |language=de }}</ref> The president may refuse to sign the law, thus effectively vetoing it. In principle, the president has the full veto authority on any bill, but this, however, is not how past presidents handled their power.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.bpb.de/apuz/31307/das-amt-des-bundespraesidenten-und-sein-pruefungsrecht?p=all | title=Das Amt des Bundespräsidenten und sein Prüfungsrecht &#124; bpb| date=3 April 2008}}</ref> Usually, the president checks if the law was passed according to the order mandated by the Constitution and/or if the content of the law is constitutional. Only in cases in which the incumbent president had serious doubts about the constitutionality of a bill laid before them, they have refused to sign it. It also has to be stated that the president may at their own discretion sign such a "vetoed" bill at any later time, if for example the Basic Law has been changed in the relevant aspect or if the bill in question has been amended according to his concerns, because their initial refusal to sign a bill is not technically a final veto.

As of 2023, this has happened only nine times and no president has done it more often than two times during their term:
* In 1951, [[Theodor Heuss]] vetoed a bill concerning income and corporation taxes, because it lacked the consent of the Bundesrat (in Germany some bills at the federal level need the consent of the Bundesrat, and some do not, which can be controversial at times).
* In 1961, [[Heinrich Lübke]] refused to sign a bill concerning business and workforce trades he believed to be unconstitutional, because of a violation of the free choice of job.
* In 1969, [[Gustav Heinemann]] vetoed the "Engineer Act", because he believed this legislative area to be under the authority of the states.
* In 1970, Gustav Heinemann refused to sign the "Architects Act" for the same reason.
* In 1976, [[Walter Scheel]] vetoed a bill about simplification measures regarding the conscientious objection of conscription, because it lacked the – in his opinion necessary – consent of the Bundesrat.
* In 1991, [[Richard von Weizsäcker]] refused to sign an amendment to the "Air Traffic Act" allowing the privatisation of the air traffic administration, which he believed to be unconstitutional. He signed the bill later after the Basic Law was changed in this aspect.
* In 2006, [[Horst Köhler]] vetoed a bill concerning flight control, because he believed it to be unconstitutional.
* Later the same year, Horst Köhler vetoed the "Consumer Information Act" for the same reason.
* In 2020, [[Frank-Walter Steinmeier]] refused to sign the "Hate Speech Act" because of concerns about its constitutionality. In a letter sent to the Bundesrat, he stated his intent to sign the bill, if accordingly amended in a reasonable time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/hate-speech-gesetz-das-koennt-ihr-besser-1.5059141|title = Das könnt ihr besser| date=8 October 2020 }}</ref> He did so in April 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/hasskriminalitaet-gesetz-gegen-online-hetze-tritt-ostern-in-kraft-a-30ed56dc-5a72-4bef-bd77-84eb66994da7|title = Hasskriminalität: Gesetz gegen Onlinehetze tritt Ostern in Kraft|newspaper = Der Spiegel|date = April 2021}}</ref>
[[Karl Carstens]], [[Roman Herzog]], [[Johannes Rau]], [[Christian Wulff]], and [[Joachim Gauck]] have signed and promulgated all bills during their respective terms.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bundespraesidenten-das-achte-nein-a-453425.html | title=Bundespräsidenten: Das achte Nein| newspaper=Spiegel Online| date=8 December 2006}}</ref> <!-- somebody who understands German better needs to read to ref and summarize it with more information, right now it seems very vague (example, first mention of Koehler) -->

===Foreign relations===
The president represents Germany in the world (Art. 59 Basic Law), undertakes foreign visits, and receives foreign dignitaries. They also conclude treaties with foreign nations (which do not come into effect until affirmed by the Bundestag), accredit German diplomats, and receive the letters of accreditation of foreign diplomats.

===Pardons and honours===
According to Article 60 (2) of the German Constitution, the president has the power to pardon. This means the president "has the authority to revoke or commute penal or disciplinary sentences in individual cases. The federal president cannot, however, issue an amnesty waiving or commuting sentences for a whole category of offenses. That requires a law enacted by the Bundestag in conjunction with the Bundesrat. Due to the federal structure of Germany the federal president is only responsible for dealing with certain criminal matters (e.g. espionage and terrorism) and disciplinary proceedings against federal civil servants, federal judges, and soldiers".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Article: Official functions|url=http://www.bundespraesident.de/EN/Role-and-Functions/WorkInGermany/OfficialFunctions/officialfunctions-node.html|access-date=21 February 2023|website=Der Bundespräsident|language=en-EN}}</ref>

It is customary that the federal president becomes the honorary godparent of the seventh child in a family if the parents wish it. They also send letters of congratulations to centenarians and long-time married couples.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Article: Anniversaries and honorary godparenthood |url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/EN/Role-and-Functions/WorkInGermany/AnniversariesAndHonoraryGodparenthood/anniversariesandhonorarygodparenthood-node.html|access-date=21 August 2023|website=Der Bundespräsident}}</ref>

===Legislative state of emergency===
Article 81 makes it possible to enact a law without the approval of the Bundestag: if the Bundestag rejects a motion of confidence, but a new chancellor is not elected nor is the Bundestag dissolved, the chancellor can declare a draft law to be "urgent". If the Bundestag refuses to approve the draft, the cabinet can ask the federal president to declare a "legislative state of emergency" (''Gesetzgebungsnotstand'') with regard to that specific law proposal.

After the declaration of the president, the Bundestag has four weeks to discuss the draft law. If it does not approve it the cabinet can ask the [[German Bundesrat|Federal Council]] for approval. After the consent of the Federal Council is secured, the draft law becomes law.

There are some constraints on the "legislative state of emergency". After a president has declared the state of emergency for the first time, the government has only six months to use the procedure for other law proposals. Given the terms provided by the constitution, it is unlikely that the government can enact more than one other draft law in this way.

Also, the emergency has to be declared afresh for every proposal. This means that the six months are not a period in which the government together with the president and the Federal Council simply replaces the Bundestag as lawgiver. The Bundestag remains fully competent to pass laws during these six months. The state of emergency also ends if the office of the chancellor ends. During the same term and after the six months, the chancellor cannot use the procedure of Article 81 again.

A "legislative state of emergency" has never been declared. In case of serious disagreement between the chancellor and the Bundestag, the chancellor resigns or the Bundestag faces new elections. The provision of Article 81 is intended to assist the government for a short time, but not to use it in crisis for a longer period. According to constitutional commentator Bryde, Article 81 provides the executive (government) with the power to "enable decrees in a state of emergency" (''exekutives Notverordnungsrecht''), but for historical reasons the constitution avoided this expression.<ref>Bryde, in: von Münch/Kunig, GGK III, 5. Aufl. 2003, Rn. 7 zu Art. 81.</ref>