Federal States

According to the constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Germany, a country (colloquially also referred to as a federal state) is one of its currently 16 partially sovereign member states. In detail, these are the states: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia .

According to jurisprudence and prevailing doctrine, the states are original constitutional subjects (the federal government has also given them limited international law subjectivity according to Article 32 Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law). Thus, the federal states can conclude treaties with other subjects of international law, but only with the consent of the federal government and insofar as they are responsible for legislation.

From a legal point of view, Hamburg and Berlin (so-called city states) are both a state and a city at the same time, and they are not further subdivided into municipalities. The state of Bremen consists of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven.

In all other German states there are the following additional administrative and self-governing units:

Administrative districts:

As large states, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony are divided into administrative districts, which are decentralized units of the state administration. The subdivision of the states of Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt has been reversed in recent years. In Rhineland-Palatinate, the 3 regional councils were replaced by 2 structural and approval directorates, as well as a supervisory and service directorate.

In the Palatinate region there is also the Palatinate district association, which was established at the beginning of the 19th century, and there are also regional associations in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Counties and urban districts:

Each area state is divided into administrative districts or districts. There are currently around 313 administrative districts in the Federal Republic of Germany, plus the 116 urban districts that do not belong to any administrative district. These perform the tasks of the rural districts themselves and in this respect form their own district. In the East German states they were called urban districts until 1994, and this is still the case in Baden-Württemberg today. The districts are regional authorities and have directly elected bodies.

Municipal Associations:

In various countries there are municipal associations or administrative communities in various forms and with different tasks as an intermediate stage of municipal work between the rural district and the municipalities. These municipal associations also have very different names in the respective countries (such as office, district municipality, association municipality or municipal administration association.

Municipalities:

On March 1, 2006, there were about 12,320 municipalities and 248 unincorporated areas in Germany. Municipalities are the smallest independent territorial units. Cities are mostly communities that are only allowed to use the designation city, which is either historically proven, or they are larger communities that are given the designation city again because of their current importance and task. This is handled very differently depending on the country. The municipalities represent regional authorities that have directly elected bodies.

History of the German states from 1945:

The countries are a result of the territorial reorganization of the occupied German Reich after 1945, whose territories were divided. The first countries were founded in July 1945 in the Soviet occupation zone. However, the Soviets pursued the design of a centralized state for a future Germany. In this, the countries should only represent administrative units.However, this was opposed by the concept of a federal state, which was mainly pursued by the Americans. The countries should also play an important political role in this.

In the course of "Proclamation No. 2" on September 19, 1945, the first countries that were oriented in this way emerged in the US occupation zone. From January 21, 1947, there were sixteen countries within the four occupation zones in what is now Germany. This was mainly formed in the following areas:

American Occupation Zone:

Bavaria: (main part of the state of Bavaria, with the district of Lindau on Lake Constance being part of the French occupation zone)

Bremen: (State of Bremen)

Hesse: (main part of the state of Hesse, main part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau)

Württemberg-Baden: (northern part of the state of Württemberg, northern part of the state of Baden)

British occupation zone:

Hamburg: (State of Hamburg)

Lower Saxony: (Prussian province of Hanover, states: Braunschweig, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe)

North Rhine-Westphalia: (northern part of the Prussian Rhine Province, the Prussian Province of Westphalia and the state of Lippe)

Schleswig-Holstein: (Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein)

French occupation zone:

Baden: (southern part of the state of Baden)

Rhineland-Palatinate: (southern part of the Prussian Rhine province, western part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, southwestern part of the state of Hesse and Bavarian Palatinate)

Würtemberg-Hohenzollern: (southern part of the state of Württemberg, Prussian exclave Hohenzollern)

Soviet occupation zone:

Brandenburg: (main part of the Prussian province of Brandenburg, excluding the Neumark)

Mecklenburg: (Mecklenburg state, western part of the Prussian province of Pomerania)

Saxony: (State of Saxony, western part of the Prussian province of Lower Silesia)

Saxony-Anhalt: (main part of the Prussian province of Saxony, Land Anhalt)

Thuringia: (state of Thuringia, southern part of the Prussian province of Saxony)

As a divided city, Berlin was initially under the four-power statute, and in January 1946 Saarland was removed from the Allied Control Council`s area of ??responsibility. In the following year it received a new constitution.

The states of Hanover, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein came into being on August 23, 1946 as a result of decree no. 46 of the British military government (although East and Westphalia were not united, contrary to the wishes of Lower Saxony). Hamburg remained an independent state, Rhineland-Palatinate was also created in 1946 by decree of the French military government.

In the following year, the state of Lippe had to give up its independence at the instigation of the British. After negotiations with the two neighboring states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, his government decided to join North Rhine-Westphalia. The union came into force on January 21, 1947 with the British Military Decree No. 77. This should be confirmed by a referendum in Lippe within 5 years, but this did not happen.

With the passing of the "law on the unification of the state of Lippe with North Rhine-Westphalia" by the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament on November 5th, 1948, the accession was also completed in legal form. On October 29, 1946, the Hessian constitution was approved by the constitutional advisory state assembly in Wiesbaden. This came into force on December 1, 1946 as the first post-war constitution in Germany. On December 1, 1946, the constitution of the Free State of Bavaria was adopted in a referendum.

On February 25, 1947, the Allied Control Council decided to disband Prussia, which until then had existed with its provinces alongside the newly founded states. On May 23, 1949, the Basic Law for the FRG was promulgated, West Berlin always had a special status.The unification of the states of Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern took place on April 25, 1952. In that year, the states in the GDR were not formally dissolved, but were relieved of their administrative functions. This was tantamount to a de facto dissolution and it was replaced by 14 districts and East Berlin. Saarland, which had been nominally independent since 1947, entered the area of ??application of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany after a referendum on January 1, 1957. Lt. According to the state constitution, Saarland is now a democratic and socially organized federal state, the unilateral economic union with France remained in place until 1959.

The districts in the GDR were abolished in 1990, the 5 former states were re-established (partly with changed borders) and, like Berlin, became states of the FRG.

A reorganization of the federal territory (based on Article 29 GG) is always the subject of political discussions. A merger of Berlin and Brandenburg recently failed because of the will of the population of Brandenburg. The unification or separation of federal states is the only case (with the exception of Art. 146, new constitution) where a referendum is provided for by the Basic Law.

Country flags:

The national flags of the respective countries may be displayed in public by every citizen, the national service flags, on the other hand, may only be used by the respective state authorities. The Free State of Bavaria has two equivalent state flags.

In some countries there is no difference between the national flag and the national service flag. These are Bavaria, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. In some countries, the state service flags also show the state coat of arms. These are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia. The official flag of Berlin shows the entire coat of arms of the state instead of the bear of the state flag.

The German states in the European Union:

Each German state has its own building for its state representation at the European Union in Brussels, only the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein are combined in one building.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, the uncoordinated actions of the respective state representations and their arbitrary interventions in the European institutions are weakening the position of the FRG in the Union.