Germany, Meetings - understand-culture

The Table Has Its Right

The international rules of Skat were adopted at the German Skat Congress in Halle in 1998. A card counts as played when it lies fully on the table. Eine (aus)gespielte Karte darf nicht zurückgenommen werden. A card that has been played may not be taken back. Bidding, passing and the announcement of the game cannot be withdrawn either.

Chess has the same principle. A player who deliberately touches one of his own pieces must move it, if it can be moved. In German this is the Berührt-geführt-Regel, the touched-moved rule. The card players’ version is the saying Tisch hat sein Recht, the table has its right.

Agreed in Fourteen Articles

From 27 September to 4 October 1529, Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli and other reformers met at Marburg, at the invitation of Landgrave Philipp of Hesse. During the debate on the Lord’s Supper, Luther pulled back the tablecloth to show the words Das ist mein Leib, this is my body, which he had written in chalk on the table beforehand. The result was the Marburg Articles.

In 14 articles the theologians recorded what they agreed on. The 15th article, on the Lord’s Supper, listed further points of agreement and then recorded in writing the one point on which they did not agree.

They had not agreed dißer Zeit, at this time, whether the true body and blood of Christ are bodily present in the bread and wine. Both sides still promised each other Christian love, so fer yedes gewiessen ymmer leyden kann, as far as each conscience can bear. Ten theologians signed it, Luther and Zwingli among them. The document is dated 3 October 1529.

The Vocabulary of Decisions

der Beschluss — a decision made together, the result of a deliberation. Duden’s examples include einen Beschluss ausführen, to carry out a decision. Duden also lists an older meaning, now obsolete: end, conclusion.

die Beschlusslage — the decisions in force. Das ist Beschlusslage, that is what has been decided.

Halten wir fest — let us record that. The chair says it to fix a result.

etwas zu Protokoll geben — to put something on the record.

die Wiedervorlage — resubmission, a date on which a file comes back to the desk for checking.

abhaken — to tick off.

unter Vorbehalt zusagen — to agree subject to a reservation. A yes that is not yet firm often comes with this phrase.

vorbehaltlich der Zustimmung der Gremien — subject to the approval of the committees.

Councils Ask Where Their Decisions Went

Council decisions are not always carried out, and German councils have asked for ways to check. In Braunschweig in 2018, a council inquiry noted: Eine öffentliche Liste mit Ratsbeschlüssen und deren Umsetzungsstand gibt es in Braunschweig leider nicht. Unfortunately, Braunschweig has no public list of council decisions and the state of their implementation.

In Leipzig, a motion from the migrants’ advisory council, reported in January 2020, proposed a body with one member from each council group to monitor how decisions are carried out. In Lüneburg in November 2025, a motion asked for public reports on the state of implementation. Its example was a decision from 2023 to set up a register of empty buildings.

Read Aloud, Approved, Signed

Germans who buy an apartment, found a limited company or sign a marriage contract go to a notary. There the whole deed is read aloud. The Notarization Act requires it. Der Inhalt der Niederschrift muss in Gegenwart des Notars den Beteiligten vorgelesen, die Niederschrift von ihnen genehmigt und eigenhändig unterschrieben werden.

The content of the record must be read aloud to the parties in the presence of the notary, approved by them and signed by them in their own hand. Maps and drawings are shown to them instead. Before the appointment, a consumer who buys land from a company must as a rule receive the draft 14 days in advance. The Federal Court of Justice confirmed this in 2015.

Bound by Handshake

In many German municipalities, the members of a new council, and sometimes the mayor, are formally committed to their duties with a handshake. The rules of procedure of Holm, in Schleswig-Holstein, say that the newly elected mayor must commit his deputies and all other members auf die gewissenhafte Erfüllung ihrer Obliegenheiten durch Handschlag, to the conscientious performance of their duties by handshake.

At the session of 3 May 2019 in Modautal, in Hesse, the council chair committed the new mayor durch Handschlag auf die gewissenhafte Erfüllung seiner Aufgaben, by handshake to the conscientious performance of his duties.

Who Does What by When

German guides to meetings distinguish two kinds of minutes. The Verlaufsprotokoll records the course of the discussion. The Ergebnisprotokoll records only the results. For items about who handles which task, the Haufe Academy’s glossary puts it in four words: Wer macht was bis wann? Who does what by when?

Its model table has columns for the person responsible, the deadline and the status. The office consultancy Büro-Kaizen adds a rule. Deshalb ist der erste Tagesordnungspunkt bei jeder Besprechung stets das Ergebnisprotokoll der letzten Sitzung. The first agenda item of every meeting is therefore always the results minutes of the last one.

The Class Council Looks Back

A procedure sheet from the Bavarian state school institute shows how a primary-school class council works. The pupils take the roles of chair, minute-taker, rule-keeper and timekeeper. The second step of every session looks back at the last one. Das letzte Protokoll wird verlesen. The last minutes are read aloud, and the children consider how the decisions were carried out.

At the end, the new decisions are summed up. A supplier of school materials describes the same review: Die Klasse prüft, ob Aufgaben und Beschlüsse aus dem letzten Klassenrat umgesetzt wurden. The class checks whether the tasks and decisions of the last class council were carried out.

Item One: The Last Minutes

The municipal code of Bavaria says: Die Verhandlungen des Gemeinderats sind niederzuschreiben. The proceedings of the council must be written down. The minutes show the resolutions and the result of each vote. Every member may ask for the minutes to record how he or she voted.

The chair and the secretary sign the minutes, and the council must approve them. Citizens may read the minutes of public sessions. On 13 May 2026, the council of Niederalteich in Lower Bavaria met. The first item on its agenda was Genehmigung der Sitzungsniederschrift vom 16.04.2026, approval of the minutes of 16 April 2026.

The Exact Wording

Every meeting of a German works council must be minuted. The Works Constitution Act sets the minimum. The minutes contain den Wortlaut der Beschlüsse und die Stimmenmehrheit, mit der sie gefasst sind, the exact wording of the resolutions and the majority by which each was passed.

The chair and one other member sign them. An attendance list is attached, and every participant present must sign it by hand. A member who joins by video confirms in writing.