Chancellor of Germany

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For a list of chancellors, see List of chancellors of Germany.

Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of

Germany

Bundeskanzlerin der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Emblem of Government

Incumbent
Angela Merkel
since 22 November 2005

Executive branch of the Government

Style Madam Chancellor (informal)

Her Excellency (diplomatic)[1]
 Status Head of Government

Member of Cabinet

European Council

Seat Federal Chancellery, Berlin (main seat)

Palais Schaumburg, Bonn (second seat)

Nominator Bundestag

Appointer President of Germany

Term length 4 years, renewable

Constituting instrument German Basic Law (German Constitution)

Inaugural holder Konrad Adenauer

Formation 24 May 1949; 72 years ago

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Germany

Salary €351,552 annually[2]

Website bundeskanzlerin.de

The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal

Republic of Germany (German: Bundeskanzler(in) der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland), is the head of government and chief executive of Germany, as well as
the commander in chief of the German Armed Forces during wartime. The chancellor
is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the federal president and without
debate (Article 63 of the German Constitution).[3]
The current officeholder is Angela Merkel, who was elected in 2005 and re-elected in
2009, 2013 and 2018.[4] She is the first woman to be elected chancellor. In 2021, she
chose not to run again, marking the first time since the founding of the Federal
Republic of Germany that an incumbent chancellor has not sought reelection.

Contents

 1History of the office

o 1.1Federal Chancellor of the North German Confederation (1867–1870)
o 1.2Chancellor of the German Reich
 1.2.1Under the Emperor (1871–1918)
 1.2.2Revolutionary period (1918–1919)
 1.2.3Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
 1.2.4Nazi Germany (1933–1945)
 2Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)
o 2.1Role
o 2.2List of chancellors (1949–present)
o 2.3Living former chancellors
o 2.4Election mechanism
o 2.5Confidence
o 2.6Vice chancellor
 2.6.1List of vice chancellors (1949–present)
o 2.7Official residence
o 2.8Style of address
o 2.9Salary
 3See also
 4Notes
 5References
 6Further reading
o 6.1Books
o 6.2Articles
 7External links

History of the office[edit]

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Willy Brandt talking at an SPD meeting in Dortmund, 1983

The office of Chancellor has a long history, stemming back to the Holy Roman
Empire, when the office of German archchancellor was usually held by archbishops
of Mainz. The title was, at times, used in several states of German-speaking Europe.
The modern office of chancellor was established with the North German
Confederation, of which Otto von Bismarck became Bundeskanzler (meaning
"Federal Chancellor") in 1867. With the enlargement of this federal state to the
German Empire in 1871, the title was renamed to Reichskanzler (meaning
"Imperial Chancellor"). With Germany's constitution of 1949, the title
of Bundeskanzler was revived.
During the various eras, the role of the chancellor has varied. From 1867 to 1918,
the chancellor was the only responsible minister of the federal level. He was installed
by the federal presidium (i.e. the Prussian king; since 1871 called Emperor).
The Staatssekretäre were civil servants subordinate to the chancellor. Besides the
executive, the constitution gave the chancellor only one function: presiding over the
Federal Council, the representative organ of the states (together with the parliament
the lawmaker). But in reality, the chancellor was nearly always installed as minister
president of Prussia, too. Indirectly, this gave the chancellor the power of the Federal
Council, including the dissolution of parliament.
Although effective government was possible only on cooperation with the parliament
(Reichstag), the results of the elections had only an indirect influence on the
chancellorship, at most. Only in October 1918 was the constitution changed: it
required the chancellor to have the trust of the parliament. Some two weeks later,
Chancellor Max von Baden declared the abdication of the emperor and ceded power
illegally to the revolutionary Council of People's Delegates.
According to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, the chancellor was head of a collegial
government. The chancellor was appointed and dismissed by the president, as were
the ministers, upon proposal by the chancellor. The chancellor or any minister had to
be dismissed if demanded by parliament. As today, the chancellor had the
prerogative to determine the guidelines of government (Richtlinienkompetenz). In
reality this power was limited by coalition government and the president.
When the Nazis came to power on 30 January 1933, the Weimar Constitution
was de facto set aside. After the death of President Hindenburg in 1934, Adolf Hitler,
the dictatorial party leader and chancellor, took over the powers of the president. The
new official title became Führer und Reichskanzler (meaning "Leader and Reich
Chancellor").
The 1949 constitution gave the chancellor much greater powers than during
the Weimar Republic, while strongly diminishing the role of the president. Germany
is today often referred to as a "chancellor democracy", reflecting the role of the
chancellor as the country's chief executive.
Since 1867, 33 individuals have served as heads of government of Germany, West
Germany, or Northern Germany, nearly all of them with the title of Chancellor.
Due to his administrative tasks, the head of the clerics at the chapel of an imperial
palace during the Carolingian Empire was
called chancellor (from Latin: cancellarius). The chapel's college acted as the
Emperor's chancery issuing deeds and capitularies. From the days of Louis the
German, the archbishop of Mainz was ex officio German archchancellor, a position
he held until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, while de jure the archbishop
of Cologne was chancellor of Italy and the archbishop of Trier of Burgundy. These
three prince-archbishops were also prince-electors of the empire electing the King of
the Romans. Already in medieval times, the German chancellor had political power
like Archbishop Willigis (archchancellor 975–1011, regent for King Otto III of
Germany 991–994) or Rainald von Dassel (Chancellor 1156–1162 and 1166–1167)
under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
In 1559, Emperor Ferdinand I established the agency of an imperial chancellery
(Reichshofkanzlei) at the Vienna Hofburg Palace, headed by a vice-chancellor under
the nominal authority of the Mainz archbishop. Upon the 1620 Battle of White
Mountain, Emperor Ferdinand II created the office of an Austrian court chancellor in
charge of the internal and foreign affairs of the Habsburg Monarchy. From 1753
onwards, the office of an Austrian state chancellor was held by Prince Kaunitz. The
imperial chancellery lost its importance, and from the days of Maria
Theresa and Joseph II, merely existed on paper. After the dissolution of the Holy
Roman Empire, Prince Metternich served as state chancellor of the Austrian
Empire (1821–1848), likewise Prince Hardenberg acted as Prussian chancellor
(1810–1822). The German Confederation of 1815–1866 did not have a government
or parliament, only the Bundestag as representative organ of the states.
In the now defunct German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), which
existed from 7 October 1949 to 3 October 1990 (when the territory of the former
GDR was reunified with the Federal Republic of Germany), the position of chancellor
did not exist. The equivalent position was called either Minister
President (Ministerpräsident) or Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the
GDR (Vorsitzender des Ministerrats der DDR). (See Leaders of East Germany.)
Federal Chancellor of the North German Confederation (1867–
1870)[edit]
The head of the federal government of the North German Confederation, which was
created on 1 July 1867, had the title Bundeskanzler. The only person to hold the
office was Otto von Bismarck, the prime minister of Prussia. The king, being the
bearer of the Bundespräsidium, installed him on 14 July.
Under the constitution of 1 January 1871, the king had additionally the title of
Emperor. The constitution still called the chancellor Bundeskanzler. This was only
changed in the new constitution of 16 April 1871 to Reichskanzler. The office
remained the same, and Bismarck was not even re-installed.
Chancellor of the German Reich[edit]
Under the Emperor (1871–1918)[edit]
In the 1871 German Empire, the Reichskanzler ("Imperial Chancellor") served both
as the emperor's first minister and as presiding officer of the Bundesrat, the upper
chamber of the German parliament. He was neither elected by nor responsible to
Parliament (the Reichstag). Instead, the chancellor was appointed by the emperor.
The federal level had four organs:

 the king of Prussia in his federal constitutional role as bearer of

the Bundespräsidium, since 1871 with the title of emperor
 the federal council (Bundesrat), consisting of representatives of the federal states
and presided over by the chancellor
 the parliament, called der Reichstag
 the federal executive, first led by Otto, Fürst von Bismarck, the Minister-President
of Prussia, as chancellor.