One rule in the Bundestag’s rules of procedure is short. Ein Mitglied des Bundestages darf nur sprechen, wenn ihm der Präsident das Wort erteilt hat. A member may speak only when the president has given him the floor. Members who want to speak sign up with the secretary who keeps the list of speakers. The president sets the order. After a speaker for the government, a different opinion should get the floor. The same rule runs down to small towns. In the council of Bakum, in Lower Saxony, the chair gives the floor in der Reihenfolge der Wortmeldungen, in the order in which people asked to speak.