The German Basic Law can be changed only openly. Article 79 requires a law das den Wortlaut des Grundgesetzes ausdrücklich ändert oder ergänzt, that expressly changes or adds to its wording. Such a law needs two thirds of the members of the Bundestag and two thirds of the votes of the Bundesrat. Some parts are closed even to that majority. Paragraph 3, the Ewigkeitsklausel or eternity clause, makes an amendment unzulässig, not permitted, if it touches the division of the federation into states, the basic participation of the states in making laws, or the principles laid down in Articles 1 and 20.