Capítulo 6 de 7

What do the BVV and the House of Representatives decide?

Four core tasks at two levels, and where Berlin’s districts and the state fit into the wider system.

In a parliamentary democracy, elected bodies such as the BVV and the House have four main tasks:

• Making political decisions: the BVV for the Bezirk, the House for Berlin as a whole.
• Setting the budget: how much money the Bezirk or the State of Berlin spends, and on what.
• Electing a government: a governing team, or at least a head of government.
• Holding the government and administration to account.

In a democracy nobody decides alone. Whatever a government, whether district office or Senate, wants to do, it needs the support of a majority of elected representatives. If many are against a plan, the government must find a compromise or drop it.

The BVV

1. Making political decisions. Through resolutions, motions and recommendations the BVV shapes, and helps decide, what the district office does.
2. Setting the budget. The BVV decides the Bezirk’s budget plan: what money is spent on and how much. The money comes from the State of Berlin, and the House of Representatives must approve every district budget. Bezirke cannot levy taxes or charges of their own.
3. Electing the district government. The BVV elects the district’s governing team: a District Mayor and five further District Councillors, who lead the district office. Depending on its size, each parliamentary group may nominate one or more candidates, which is why several parties are usually represented in a district office.
4. Holding the administration to account. The BVV checks whether the district office follows the BVV’s resolutions and carries out its tasks properly. District representatives can demand information from the district office, and in certain matters the BVV can overturn a district-office decision by a resolution of its own.

The House of Representatives

1. Making political decisions. Members pass laws that apply across the whole of Berlin.
2. Setting the budget. Members pass the state budget law: how much Berlin spends and on what, and the level of state taxes and charges.
3. Electing the head of government. The House elects Berlin’s Governing Mayor, usually a member of the largest party, who appoints up to ten Senators. Together they form Berlin’s government, the Senate.
4. Holding the administration to account. Members check whether the Senate and its administration implement the House’s decisions and spend money as agreed. In topical debates, question sessions and written questions they can demand information and table motions.

Democratic participation at every level

In Germany the municipalities, the federal states and the federal government have different responsibilities. Bezirke and the state must abide by federal law, just as the Bezirke must follow the rules the State of Berlin sets. In some areas the federal level sets requirements the state and the districts implement; in many others the state and the districts decide for themselves.

So that as many interests as possible are considered, decision-makers at the different levels talk to each other, and both the Bezirke and the State of Berlin can have a say at the level above them.

• European Union: the EU now takes many decisions that shape life in Germany; for particularly important ones the Bundestag must agree. Through the European Committee of the Regions the House can raise Berlin’s concerns at European level.
• Bundesrat: the Berlin Senate has four members in the Bundesrat, where the federal states help decide many federal laws and can table proposals on national matters.
• Council of Mayors: the Bezirke influence Senate policy through the Council of Mayors, where the Governing Mayor, the two deputy mayors from the Senate and the twelve District Mayors discuss matters that affect the Bezirke.