The Defence Committee - Deutscher Bundestag
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The Defence Committee
2
“National and Alliance defence,
international crisis management,
missions abroad, emergency and
disaster relief, the dangers posed by
hybrid warfare and cyber threats:
the range of tasks dealt with by our
parliamentary army is huge. At
the same time, a great deal is hap-
pening in terms of the European
Security and Defence Policy. It is
important for Parliament to exam-
ine, constructively and critically,
the possibilities and opportunities
of Permanent Structured Coopera-
tion. We will also continue to focus
on ensuring that the members of
our armed forces receive the best
possible training and are properly
equipped, and on enhancing the
appeal of the military profession.”
Wolfgang Hellmich, SPD
Chairman of the Defence Committee
3
The German Bundestag’s
decisions are prepared by its
committees, which are estab-
lished at the start of each elec-
toral term. Four of them are
stipulated by the Basic Law,
the German constitution: the
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
the Defence Committee, the
Committee on the Affairs of
the European Union and the
Petitions Committee. The
Budget Committee and the
Committee for the Rules of
Procedure are also required
by law. The spheres of respon-
sibility of the committees
essentially reflect the Federal
Government’s distribution of
ministerial portfolios. This
enables Parliament to scruti-
nise the government’s work
effectively.
The Bundestag committees
The German Bundestag sets
political priorities of its own
by establishing additional
committees for specific sub-
jects, such as sport, cultural
affairs or tourism. In addition,
special bodies such as parlia-
mentary advisory councils, The committees discuss and
committees of inquiry or deliberate on items referred
study commissions can also to them by the plenary. They
be established. The commit- also have the right to take up
tees are composed of mem- issues on their own initiative,
bers of all the parliamentary allowing them to set priorities
groups, reflecting the balance in the parliamentary debate.
of these groups in the German When necessary, they draw
Bundestag. The distribution on external expertise – usu-
of the chairs and deputy ally by holding public hear-
chairs among the parliamen- ings. At the end of a commit-
tary groups also reflects their tee’s deliberations, a majority
relative strengths in the ple- of its members adopt a recom-
nary. In the current electoral mendation for a decision and
term, the committees have a report, which serve as the
between nine and 49 mem- basis for the plenary’s deci-
bers. sion.
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The Defence Committee is a
special committee in several
respects: it is prescribed by the
Basic Law, it always meets in
closed session, and it can con-
stitute itself as a committee
of inquiry to carry out more
in-depth investigations.
There are good reasons for
this special role. From a con
stitutional perspective, the
armed forces require particu-
larly intensive oversight by
Parliament and its Defence
Committee due to the power
they could potentially wield.
Furthermore, the topics dis-
cussed by the 36 Committee
members, chaired by Wolfgang
Hellmich (SPD), are often
highly sensitive. After all,
they can involve Germany’s
security and that of its military
allies, as well as the interests
of Bundeswehr personnel on
active service.
The Defence Committee
The Defence Committee is the
counterpart at parliamentary
level of the Federal Ministry of
Defence, the Bundeswehr and This is particularly true with
the Federal Defence Admi regard to the missions abroad
nistration. In the process of carried out by the German
democratic oversight, it plays armed forces within the frame-
an important role in the adop- work of international security
tion of the defence budget and policy. This issue is increa-
the procurement of equipment singly dominating the Defence
and materiel for the Bundes- Committee’s agenda. In 1994,
wehr. The Committee is closely the Federal Constitutional
involved when the Budget Court underlined the special
Committee discusses the bud- character of the Bundeswehr
get for the Ministry of Defence as a “parliamentary army”,
and for the Parliamentary assigning the German Bundes
Commissioner for the Armed tag a pivotal role in approving
Forces – who also plays an missions abroad. Since then,
important role in ensuring all missions abroad have
parliamentary oversight. The required parliamentary appro-
Defence Committee’s recom- val: in other words, the Bun-
mendations are generally hee- destag’s consent is necessary
ded by the Budget Committee. for the Bundeswehr to be
Moreover, the Federal Ministry deployed as envisaged by
of Defence must also submit the Federal Government.
all procurement projects requi- Although the Committee on
ring an outlay above 25 mil- Foreign Affairs is the lead
lion euros to the Defence Com- committee in preparing the
mittee for discussion. In other draft resolution on a mission
words, the Bundestag and the abroad, the vote of the Defence
relevant committees have a Committee, as a committee
great deal of influence over asked for its opinion, carries
the armed forces. considerable weight.
12 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ CDU/CSU
8 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ SPD
5 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ AfD
4 ■ ■ ■ ■ FDP
4 ■ ■ ■ ■ The Left Party
3 ■ ■ ■ Alliance 90/The Greens
Number of members: 36
Chairman: Wolfgang Hellmich, SPD
Deputy Chairman: Prof. h.c. Dr Karl A. Lamers, CDU/CSU
7A special right – the
Defence Committee acting as
a committee of inquiry
Committees of inquiry are the
Bundestag’s most powerful
instrument of parliamentary
In addition to examining mili- scrutiny. They allow Members
tary issues, the Committee of Parliament to question wit-
members also receive reports nesses and experts, and obtain
on the everyday experiences files and documents from pub-
of service personnel and the lic bodies and private organi-
consequences which missions sations. A decision by Parlia
abroad can have. In order to ment is needed to establish
gain an impression of the situ- a committee of inquiry. The
ation on the ground, the Com- Defence Committee is diffe-
mittee requests information rent: it is the only committee
from the Federal Government which has the right under the
or sends delegations to the Basic Law to constitute itself
mission areas to ensure effec- as a committee of inquiry.
tive parliamentary oversight. This means that the Commit-
In short, the Defence Commit- tee members meet twice in
tee is one of the most import- weeks when the Bundestag
ant bridges between the armed is sitting: as the Defence Com-
forces and the Bundestag. mittee on Wednesday and as
8National and Alliance defence,
missions abroad, military
service and internal leader-
ship – the Committee’s work
in practice
The fact that the armed forces
face major challenges in per-
forming their duties in Ger-
many and abroad is shown
by the large number of items
on the Defence Committee’s
agenda. Currently, the Cri-
mean crisis has resulted in
national defence becoming
more of a focus for defence
policy, alongside Alliance
defence. A particular priority
the committee of inquiry on in the Committee’s work in the
Thursday. The Defence Com- current electoral term will be
mittee most recently made use the further development and
of its special right to constitute structuring of European and
itself as a committee of inquiry bilateral cooperation, and
with the Kunduz Committee especially the implementation
on Inquiry (which investigated of the new initiative intro-
a German air attack in Afgha- duced by the EU heads of state
nistan in 2009 that resulted in and government to deepen
civilian casualties) and the cooperation in the field of
EURO HAWK Committee of security and defence and to
Inquiry (which examined a implement concrete measures
controversial Bundeswehr (Permanent Structured Coope-
drone project). ration, or PESCO).
9Difficult questions often fea-
ture on the Committee’s
agenda. For example: what
framework is provided by
German security policy? What
have been the effects of the
updated Defence Policy Guide-
lines? What form is recruit-
ment taking following the
Further progress is to be made suspension of compulsory
on gearing the Bundeswehr’s military service? What can be
internal structure to its mis done to make service in the
sions abroad. The Committee armed forces more appealing
therefore spends a great deal as a profession in general?
of time engaging with the on- And how can service in the
going process of restructuring military – and the inevitable
and transforming the armed reassignments and frequent
forces. Its focus is not only on relocations – be made more
ensuring that soldiers are well family-friendly?
trained and equipped when Then there is the plan govern-
they are deployed; the ques- ing which military bases
tion of how they are reintegra- should be retained and which
ted into the Bundeswehr and closed. The use of training
society on their return is areas is also regularly an issue,
equally important – in parti for example when the inter-
cular if they are suffering from ests of people living nearby
post-traumatic stress. or environmental issues must
10be considered. The role of the
armed forces in society is an-
other subject which features
regularly on the Committee’s
agenda, as does the balance
between soldiers’ civil rights
and military duties – a subject
closely related to the concepts
of “citizens in uniform” and
“internal leadership”, which
encapsulate the Bundeswehr’s Bundeswehr, and investigates
system of values. potential violations of the fun-
Particularly in the case of such damental rights of service per-
issues which affect society as sonnel or infringements of the
a whole, the Committee mem- principles of internal leader
bers can build on the work of ship. The Commissioner pro-
the Parliamentary Commis duces annual reports setting
sioner for the Armed Forces. out his or her assessment of
The Commissioner assists the the current state of the troops,
Bundestag in exercising par and they are regularly discus-
liamentary oversight over the sed by the Committee.
11Wolfgang Hellmich,
SPD Prof. h.c. Dr
Chairman Karl A. Lamers,
Executive, CDU/CSU
b. 5 May 1958 Deputy Chairman
in Welver-Meyerich; Lawyer,
married; b. 12 Feb. 1951
three children. in Duisburg-Hamborn.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2012 since 1994
Committee members
The 36 members of the Defence Committee
12Ingo Gädechens,
CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU spokesman Eckhard Gnodtke,
Dr Reinhard Brandl, on the Committee CDU/CSU
CDU/CSU Former career Lawyer,
Industrial engineer, service member, b. 7 Jan. 1958
b. 1 Aug. 1977 b. 30 July 1960 in Lüchow;
in Ingolstadt; in Lübeck; married;
unmarried. married. three children.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2009 since 2009 since 2017
Henning Otte,
Jens Lehmann, CDU/CSU
Florian Hahn, CDU/CSU CDU/CSU spokesman
CDU/CSU Olympic on defence policy
Electronic marketing cycling champion, Authorised legal officer,
specialist, childcare worker, lawyer,
b. 14 Mar. 1974 b. 19 Dec. 1967 b. 27 Oct. 1968
in Munich; in Stolberg, Harz; in Celle;
married; married; married;
two children. two children. four children.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2009 since 2017 since 2005
13Oswin Veith,
CDU/CSU
Anita Schäfer, Karin Strenz, Specialist in
CDU/CSU CDU/CSU administrative law,
Employee, Special needs teacher, b. 16 May 1961
b. 9 July 1951 b. 14 Oct. 1967 in Ober-Wöllstadt;
in Saalstadt; in Lübz; married;
unmarried. married. one child.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 1998 since 2009 since 2013
Bettina M. Wiesmann, Dr Karl-Heinz Brunner,
Kerstin Vieregge, CDU/CSU SPD
CDU/CSU Business consultant, Business administrator,
Business administrator, b. 20 Oct. 1966 b. 14 Mar. 1953
b. 6 Sep. 1976 in Berlin; in Munich;
in Rinteln; married; married;
unmarried. four children. two children.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2017 since 2017 since 2013
14Dr Fritz Felgentreu,
SPD
SPD spokesman
on the Committee,
SPD spokesman Josip Juratovic,
on defence policy SPD
Classical philologist, Thomas Hitschler, Car mechanic,
teacher, SPD b. 15 Jan. 1959
b. 1 Sep. 1968 Political scientist, in Koprivnica,
in Kiel; b. 22 June 1982 Croatia;
married; in Landau; married;
three children. married. three children.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2013 since 2013 since 2005
Dirk Vöpel,
Siemtje Möller, SPD
SPD Self-employed Gabi Weber,
Teacher, businessman, SPD
b. 20 July 1983 b. 29 May 1971 Employee,
in Emden; in Oberhausen; b. 24 Mar. 1955
unmarried; divorced; in Ebernhahn;
two children. one child. one child.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2017 since 2013 since 2013
15Rüdiger Lucassen,
AfD
AfD spokesman
on the Committee,
Berengar Elsner AfD spokesman
von Gronow, on defence policy
AfD Business administrator,
Sales manager, Jens Kestner, former colonel,
b. 7 Jan. 1978 AfD b. 19 Aug. 1951
in Bad Godesberg, Undertaker, in Dollerupholz;
Bonn; b. 25 Dec. 1971 married;
unmarried. in Northeim. two children.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2017 since 2017 since 2017
Gerold Otten,
Jan Nolte, AfD
AfD Former colonel, Dr Marcus Faber,
Former soldier, b. 7 Dec. 1955 FDP
b. 30 Dec. 1988 in Lübberstedt; Political scientist,
in Bremen; married; b. 4 Feb. 1984
married. one child. in Stendal.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2017 since 2017 since 2017
16Dr Marie-Agnes
Strack-Zimmermann,
Alexander Müller, FDP
FDP FDP spokeswoman
FDP spokesman Christian Sauter, on defence policy
on the Committee FDP Journalist,
IT specialist, Industrial engineer, b. 10 Mar. 1958
b. 17 July 1969 b. 11 Feb. 1980 in Düsseldorf;
in Bendorf am Rhein; in Rinteln; married;
married. unmarried. three children.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2017 since 2017 since 2017
Christine Buchholz,
The Left Party Dr Alexander S. Neu,
Education, social The Left Party
sciences and religious Matthias Höhn, The Left Party
studies specialist, The Left Party spokesman
b. 2 Apr. 1971 Parliamentarian, on the Committee
in Hamburg; b. 19 Aug. 1975 Political scientist,
married; in Stolberg; b. 19 Mar. 1969
two children. civil partnership. in Harmonie, Eitorf.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2009 since 2017 since 2013
17Tobias Pflüger,
The Left Party
The Left Party
spokesman
on defence policy
Political scientist,
b. 1 Feb. 1965
in Stuttgart.
Bundestag Member
since 2017
Dr Tobias Lindner,
Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens
spokesman
Katja Keul, on the Committee,
Agnieszka Brugger, Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens
Alliance 90/The Greens Lawyer, spokesman on
Student b. 30 Nov. 1969 defence policy
b. 8 February 1985 in Berlin; Economist,
in Legnica, Poland; married; b. 11 Jan. 1982
married; one child. three children. in Karlsruhe.
Bundestag Member Bundestag Member Bundestag Member
since 2009 since 2009 since 2011
1819
Information online
The Defence Committee
www.bundestag.de/en/committees/a12
The Federal Ministry of Defence
www.bmvg.de/en
The Bundeswehr
www.bundeswehr.de
The Federal Foreign Office
www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en
The Center for International Peace Operations
www.zif-berlin.org/en
The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development
www.bmz.de/en
20Contact details for the Committee Secretariat
Deutscher Bundestag
Verteidigungsausschuss
Platz der Republik 1
11011 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 227-32537
Fax: +49 30 227-36005
Email: verteidigungsausschuss@bundestag.de
21Published by: German Bundestag, Public Relations Division Coordination: Robert Schönbrodt Texts: Georgia Rauer; revised by: Committees Directorate (p. 4 – 5), Secretariat of the Defence Committee (p. 6 – 21) Edited by: Marianne Wollenweber Translated by: Language Service of the German Bundestag, in cooperation with Emma Hardie Design: Marc Mendelson Bundestag eagle: Created by Professor Ludwig Gies, revised in 2008 by büro uebele Photos: p. 2 Deutscher Bundestag (DBT) / Linus Lintner Fotografie; p. 8–9, 10, 11, 19 DBT / Marc-Steffen Unger; p. 23 DBT / studio kohlmeier Portrait photos: p. 3, 12 DBT / Thomas Trutschel / photothek (Wolfgang Hell- mich); p. 12 DBT / Thomas Trutschel / photothek (Karl A. Lamers); p. 13 Rein- hard Brandl / Gerd Grimm (Reinhard Brandl); Ingo Gädechens / Jan Kopetzky (Ingo Gädechens); DBT / Stella von Saldern (Eckhard Gnodtke); DBT / Achim Melde (Florian Hahn); DBT / Julia Nowak (Jens Lehmann); Henning Otte / Blume (Henning Otte); p. 14 Anita Schäfer / Harald Kröher (Anita Schäfer); Karin Strenz / Christian Stambor (Karin Strenz); DBT / Stella von Saldern (Oswin Veith); Kerstin Vieregge / Patrick Pantze (Kerstin Vieregge); Bettina M. Wiesmann / Alexander Paul Englert (Bettina M. Wiesmann); DBT / Thomas Trutschel / photothek (Karl-Heinz Brunner); p. 15 SPD-Parteivorstand / Susie Knoll (Fritz Felgentreu); DBT / Julia Nowak (Thomas Hitschler); DBT / Achim Melde (Josip Juratovic); SPD-Parteivorstand / Susie Knoll (Siemtje Möller); SPD-Parteivorstand / Benno Kraehahn (Dirk Vöpel); SPD-Parteivorstand / Benno Kraehahn (Gabi Weber); p. 16 DBT / Achim Melde (Berengar Elsner von Gronow); Jens Kestner (Jens Kestner); DBT / Julia Nowak (Rüdiger Lucas- sen); Jan Nolte / Hagen Schnauss (Jan Nolte); Gerold Otten / Paul-Gerhard Loske (Gerold Otten); Dr Marcus Faber / Susanne Schmidt (Marcus Faber); p. 17 Alexander Müller / Uwe Dettmar (Alexander Müller); DBT / Thomas Trutschel / photothek (Christian Sauter); Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann / Olaf Heine (Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann); Die Linke im Bundestag (Christine Buchholz); DIE LINKE. / Michael Breyer (Matthias Höhn); Die Linke im Bundestag (Alexander S. Neu); p. 18 Tobias Pflüger / Michael Breyer (Tobias Pflüger); DBT / Thomas Trutschel / photothek (Agnieska Brugger); DBT / Thomas Köhler / photothek (Katja Keul); DBT / Stella von Saldern (Tobias Lindner) Graphic: p. 7 Marc Mendelson Printed by: Druckhaus Waiblingen Remstal-Bote GmbH As at: January 2019 © Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin All rights reserved. This publication has been produced as part of the German Bundestag’s public relations activities. It is provided free of charge and is not intended for sale. It may not be used for election campaign purposes or utilised by parties or parliamentary groups in their own public relations activities.
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The German Bundestag takes decisions on what are at times highly complex and controversial bills and parliamentary initiatives relating to the entire spectrum of policy fields. The committees play a central role in parliamentary deliberations. They are the forum where the Members thrash out compromises and draw on expert advice before submitting their reports and recommendations for decisions to be voted on by the Bundestag as a whole. www.bundestag.de/en/committees
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