On 12 July 2017, the ARD talk show Maischberger discussed the riots at the G20 summit in Hamburg. During the broadcast, the CDU politician Wolfgang Bosbach got up and left the studio. He said that the Frankfurt city councilor Jutta Ditfurth was unbearable, persönlich, vom Verhalten und ihrer Argumentation, personally, in her behavior and in her argument. Das muss ich nicht mitmachen. I don’t have to put up with this. Afterward he named the reason. Die permanente Mischung aus Dazwischenquatschen und Grimassenschneiden von Frau Ditfurth war eine echte Zumutung. Ms. Ditfurth’s constant mix of butting in and pulling faces was a real imposition.
politics
Two Hands Up
At German party conventions and assemblies, people who want to speak on the item go on a list and are called in order. There is one way to jump the queue. A motion on procedure, an Antrag zur Geschäftsordnung, may be made outside the order. It has its own signal. The rules of the ÖDP’s federal party convention say: GO-Anträge werden durch Erheben beider Hände und der Stimmkarte angezeigt. Procedural motions are signaled by raising both hands and the voting card. The senior citizens’ parliament in the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament also uses both raised hands, and such motions must be dealt with at once.
Given the Floor
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.
Questions by Friday
In every sitting week, the Bundestag holds a Fragestunde, a question time of at most 45 minutes. Each member may put up to two questions to the federal government for an oral answer. The questions must reach the president of the Bundestag by 10 a.m. on the Friday before the sitting week. The government receives them by noon the same day. In the session, the member may ask up to two follow-up questions. The president rejects follow-up questions that are not directly connected with the main question. Questions not reached in the time are answered in writing.
Eighty Items in One Morning
The Bundesrat meets in plenary session about 11 times a year. The session always begins at 9:30 a.m. It often has 50 or 60 agenda items, sometimes more than 80. One or two items are debated in full. On average the session ends after three to four hours. Many speeches are not delivered at all but handed in for the record. The work is done beforehand. Zwei Wochen vor der Plenarsitzung müssen die Ausschüsse ihre Beratungen abgeschlossen haben. The committees must finish their deliberations two weeks before the plenary. Each state must agree its position among its own ministries before the committee meets. Two days before the plenary, the session is reviewed again in the light of the state cabinets’ decisions.
The Third Day
The Bundestag’s rules of procedure set a minimum time for reading. Soweit die Geschäftsordnung nichts anderes vorschreibt oder zulässt, beginnen die Beratungen der Vorlagen frühestens am dritten Tag nach Verteilung der Drucksachen. Unless the rules provide otherwise, deliberation on a bill or motion begins at the earliest on the third day after its printed paper has been distributed.
One Warning, Then the Floor Is Gone
In the Bundestag, speaking time is shared out by agreement before the debate. The rules of procedure then say what happens to a member who runs over. The president soll ihm nach einmaliger Mahnung das Wort entziehen, should take away the floor after one warning. The Bundestag’s own glossary says that the chair watches the speaking time streng, strictly. On 16 October 2025, the AfD leader Alice Weidel spoke after a government statement by Chancellor Friedrich Merz and went over her time. According to Focus, President Julia Klöckner told her that her time was up. Weidel answered with a simple Danke and kept talking. Klöckner warned her several times and finally threatened to switch off her microphone.
Under One, Under Two, Under Three
Journalists in Berlin know three numbers. The statute of the Bundespressekonferenz, the association of the journalists who report on federal politics, sets three levels for anything said to its members. Unter eins, under one, means the information may be used freely and the speaker may be named. Unter zwei, under two, means the information may be used, but the source may not be named. Unter drei, under three, means the information is confidential and may not be reported publicly. The speaker chooses the level. If the speaker says nothing, the information is free to use. A member who breaks the rule can be expelled from the association. In 2019 the Federal Administrative Court held that confidential background talks are lawful in principle.
Background Circles
In Berlin, journalists form closed groups called Hintergrundkreise, background circles. A circle invites a politician to talk, and the rule is confidentiality. In 2025 the Stuttgarter Zeitung described them as exclusive clubs that arrange meetings with politicians, which may be reported only in exceptional cases. One of its correspondents could join the circle called Gelbe Karte only after an examining interview with senior members of the profession. In the Kohl years, fifteen correspondents met every Monday for lunch in the rooms of a rowing club on the Rhine with Eduard Ackermann, one of Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s closest confidants. Membership in that circle came only by recommendation.
Swiss Cheese
During the pandemic, the chancellor and the heads of the sixteen states met by video to decide on Corona measures. In March 2021 several state leaders complained that nothing stayed inside the meeting. Malu Dreyer, minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate, said: Im Ergebnis kann man gar nicht mehr offen sprechen, weil zu vieles sofort in den Medien landet. “In the end you can no longer speak openly, because too much ends up in the media at once.” Axel Wintermeyer, head of the Hesse state chancellery, called the meetings so durchlässig wie ein Schweizer Käse, as full of holes as Swiss cheese. According to Bodo Ramelow, minister-president of Thuringia, 61 people had been connected to the last summit.