Referendums in Germany

Referendums in Germany are an element of direct democracy. On the federal level only two types of a mandatory binding referendum exist – in changing the constitution and in changing the state territories.

All states have an enacted laws for popular indirect initiatives allowing to collect signatures for a request to the government. The government may issue a poll on any topic whereas the outcome is usually non-binding. The German referendum system has three types

• Volksbegehren (literally people's request) is a citizens' initiative – if the government ignores the request it could directly lead into a "Volksentscheid"
• Volksbefragung (literally people's inquiry) is non-binding facultative ballot question and the most common type of referendums
• Volksentscheid (literally people's decision) is a binding plebiscite but this type is only used if the constitution requires it (mandatory).

The term Volksinitiative (people's initiative) is a synonym of Volksbegehren and it is the official term in Switzerland. On the municipal level the three types are paralleled with

• Bürgerbegehren (literally citizens' request) as the local citizens' initiative
• Bürgerbefragung (literally citizens' inquiry) for a local ballot question and
• Bürgerentscheid (literally citizens' decision) for local plebiscite.

Note that in the city states the state citizens' initiative types are commonly called Bürgerbegehren while being at the same legal level as Volksbegehren in other Bundesländer states. Note that the term "Bürgerinitiative" (literally citizens' initiative) is used informally for non-partisan local campaign organizations (political action groups).

Federal concept

Following World War II the new republic was founded with only minor elements of direct democracy. On the federal level there are only two mandatory constitutional referendum types – one is in case of enacting a new constitution (although changes to the constitution do not require a public vote and there is no provision for an initiative for a constitutional amendment) that has never been used although there was an argument in that direction during German reunification. The other type requires a public vote in case of restructuring the Bundesländer (states) ("Neugliederung des Bundesgebietes") which led to a referendum on the union of Baden and Württemberg into Baden-Württemberg in 1951 (accepted) and a referendum on the union of Berlin and Brandenburg into Berlin-Brandenburg in 1996 (rejected).

Bundesländer

Originally none of the Bundesländer states had provisions for a general binding referendum ("Volksentscheid"). Only Hesse and Bavaria have a mandatory binding referendum on changes to the state constitution. Most states do however have a form of a general non-binding ballot question ("Volksbefragung") which has been used rarely however – the most important one had been the 1955 Saar Statute referendum.

General forms of direct democracy were first introduced in the communities with facultative ballot questions ("Bürgerbefragung") and public initiatives ("Bürgerbegehren") that are both non-binding. In some areas this has been expanded into a binding referendum type ("Bürgerentscheid") but almost universally facultative.

In some states there is however a general right on state popular initiatives ("Volksbegehren") which was used in Hamburg to push the state government to pass a law on a facultative binding state referendum ("Volksentscheid") in 2007.

Initiative quorum

Following World War II the right to petition to the government was installed with high barriers. Any popular initiative had to filed with the authorities and the signatories have to identify before their signature is accepted. This is called "Amtseintragung" (literally administrative inscription) in most legal areas. The other type is commonly referred to as "Freie Sammlung" (literally free collection) where letters may be accumulated before being handed over. Naturally some of the latter signatures are found to be illegal which can be a source of dispute.

In order to push the government the initiative must reach a certain amount of valid signatures. The "quorum" is defined differently by each Bundesländer state.

concepts of referendums and initiatives in Germany
referendum provisions		initiative requirements
legislative body	legal foundation	signatory quorum time limit / collection type	exclusion of topics
Baden-Württemberg	Art. 59 und 60 of the state constitution; §§ 25–39 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz	16,67 % 14 days Amtseintragung	Abgabengesetze, Besoldungsgesetze, Staatshaushaltsgesetz
Bavaria	Art. 71, 72 und 74 of the state constitution; Art. 63–74 of the Landeswahlgesetz	10 % 14 days Amtseintragung	Staatshaushalt
	see also: → de:Volksgesetzgebung in Bayern
Berlin	Art. 59, 62, 63 of the state constitution; §§ 10–28 of the Abstimmungsgesetz	7% (20% for constitutional changes) 4 months Freie Sammlung	Landeshaushaltsgesetz, Abgaben, Tarife öffentlicher Unternehmen, Personalentscheidungen
	see also: → de:Volksgesetzgebung in Berlin
Brandenburg	Art. 22 of the state constitution; §§13–25, 56 und 60 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz	80.000 (200.000 when demanding reelections) 4 Monate Amtseintragung	Landeshaushalt, Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge, Abgaben, Personalentscheidungen
Bremen	Art. 70 und 71 of the state constitution; §§ 8–21 of the "Gesetz über das Verfahren beim Volksentscheid"	10% (20% when demanding constitutional changes or reelections) 3 months Freie Sammlung	Haushaltsplan, Dienstbezüge, Steuern, Abgaben, Gebühren
Hamburg	Art. 50 der state constitution; §§ 6–17 des Volksabstimmungsgesetzes	5 % 21 days Freie Sammlung	Bundesratsinitiativen, Haushaltspläne, Abgaben, Tarife der öffentlichen Unternehmen, Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge
	see also: → de:Volksgesetzgebung (Hamburg)
Hessen	Art. 124 of the state constitution; §§ 1–15 of the Volksbegehrensgesetz	20 % 14 days Amtseintragung	Haushaltsplan, Abgabengesetze, Besoldungsordnungen, Verfassungsänderungen
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Art. 60 of the state constitution; §§ 11–17 of the VaG; §§ 1–8 of the Durchführungsverordnung	120.000 no time limit Freie Sammlung	Haushaltsgesetze, Abgabengesetze, Besoldungsgesetze
Niedersachen	Art. 48 of the state constitution; §§ 12–23 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz; § 62d of the Geschäftsordnung des Landtages	10 % 6 months Freie Sammlung	Landeshaushalt, öffentliche Abgaben, Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge
Nordrhein-Westfalen	Art. 2, 68 und 69 of the state constitution; §§ 6–21 of the VIVBVEG; §§ 2–8 of the Durchführungsverordnung VIVBVEG	8 % 8 weeks Amtseintragung	Finanzfragen, Abgabengesetze, Besoldungsordnungen
Rheinland-Pfalz	Art. 107–109 of the state constitution; §§ 61–76 of the Landeswahlgesetz; §§ 75–83 of the Landeswahlordnung	300.000 2 months Amtseintragung	Finanzfragen, Abgabengesetze, Besoldungsordnung
Saarland	Art. 61, 99 und 100 of the state constitution; §§ 2–13 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz; §§ 1–7 of the Volksabstimmungsordnung	20 % 14 days Amtseintragung	may not include topics with financial implications,[1] Abgaben, Besoldungen, Staatsleistungen, Staatshaushalt, Verfassungsänderungen
Sachsen	Art. 70, 72–74 of the state constitution; §§ 16–25 des VVVG	450.000 6–8 months[2] Freie Sammlung	Abgaben-, Besoldungs-, Haushaltsgesetz
Sachsen-Anhalt	Art. 81 of the state constitution; §§ 10–19 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz	11 % 6 months Freie Sammlung	Haushaltsgesetze, Abgabengesetze, Besoldungsregelungen
Schleswig-Holstein	Art. 42 der state constitution; §§ 11–19 of the Volksabstimmungsgesetz	5 % 6 months Amtseintragung	Landeshaushalt, Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge, öffentliche Abgaben
Thüringen	Art. 81 und 82 of the state constitution; §§ 9–18 of the "Gesetzes über Verfahren beim Bürgerantrag, Volksbegehren und Volksentscheid"	10% (8%) 4 months (2 months) Freie Sammlung (Amtseintragung)	Landeshaushalt, Dienst- und Versorgungsbezüge, Abgaben und Personalentscheidungen
Bundesrepublik Deutschland[3]	Art. 29 GG Abs. 4–6 GG; §§ 14, 24, 26 und 36 of the law on referendums and initiatives ("Gesetzes über das Verfahren bei Volksentscheid, Volksbegehren und Volksbefragung") in 29 GG Abs. 6 GG §§ 1–45 und 93 of the regulation on conduct ("Verordnung zur Durchführung des Gesetzes nach Art. 29 GG Abs. 6 GG")	10% of the voters in the affected area	the referendum may only target questions of territory changes (see de:Neugliederung des Bundesgebietes")

Notable referendums in Germany

Territory of the Saar Basin (1920–1935)

• 1935 Saar status referendum

Saar Protectorate (1947–1956)

• 1955 Saar Statute referendum

Eastern Germany (1949–1990)

• 1951 East German referendum
• 1954 East German referendum
• 1968 East German referendum

post-1990 Germany

• 1995 Bavarian referendum on introduction of local referendums
• 1998 Bavarian referendum on the abolition of the Bavarian Senate
• 2010 Bavarian referendum on a smoking ban in gastronomy
• 2011 Baden-Württemberg referendum on Stuttgart 21
• 2011 Berlin water referendum
• 2013 Berlin energy referendum

References

1. Die Formulierung in der saarländischen Verfassung ist die restriktivste in Deutschland. Faktisch sind alle Volksbegehren unzulässig, die irgendeine finanzielle Auswirkung haben würden, also auch Gesetzesvorschläge die Einsparungen zur Folge hätten.
2. Art. 72 Sächsische Verfassung sieht vor, dass die Frist mindestens 6 Monate beträgt, § 20 VVVG bestimmt, dass die Frist maximal 8 Monate beträgt.
3. Ein Volksbegehren ist nur für den Fall der Gebietsneugliederung nach Art. 29 GG Abs. 4–6 GG möglich. Das Volksbegehren findet nicht bundesweit, sondern nur in dem eine Neugliederung begehrendem Gebiet statt.