Basic features of the constitutional model of modern German federalism

The need to reform the institute of German federalism arose in the course of the development of federative structures in Germany in 2003.It was stipulated by the fact that the established order of delineation of legislative competences between the Federation and the lands resulted in a legislative crisis. Therefore, only about 60% of all federal laws were approved by the Bundesrat. Thus, the purpose of the constitutional reform of German federalism was the development of the order of delineation of legislative competences between the Federation and the lands and the decrease of the number of cases in which the approval of the Bundesrat was necessary. The law on amending the Basic law of FRG which is known in Germany as the Law on the reform of federalism came into force 01.09.2006. The essence of basic provisions of the first stage of the reform of German federalism 2006: the law making process of Germany became quicker and more transparent; the number of laws to be approved by the Bundesrat reduced; the legislation on delineation of competences between the Federation and the lands was amended. Framework legislation of the Federation was repealed and its place was taken by exclusive and competing legislation of the Federation or by legislation of the lands. In 2006 Article 72 of the Basic law of FRG was added by a new provision, according to which the lands of FRG acquired the right to adopt the laws which on some positions were inconsistent with federal laws. Now the lands of FRG have "the right to reject". The lands have a six months term to react to new federal laws with a renewed rejection. There are also great changes in the sphere of federal laws execution in Germany. According to Article 83 of the Basic law of FRG, the execution of federal laws is vested in the lands since the Basic law neither defines nor admits any alternatives. Thus, the competence of the lands prevails in the sphere of execution of federal laws. The constitutional reform of federalism in modern Germany has played an important role in the development of the system of federative relations in the state. The result of large-scale changes in the functioning of the German federative system taken as a whole is that the principle of competitiveness (rivalry) between the lands supported the "cooperative" German federalism.

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