Toward a New German Federalism?

Abstract

A comprehensive reform of the German federal system requires a Grand Coalition at the federal level. The first far-reaching constitutional reform was passed in 1969 by the first Grand Coalition that had been in power since 1966. This established the constitutional foundation for Germany’s cooperative federalism, by then quite well developed.¹ In 2006, the second Grand Coalition overcame the deadlock leading to the failure of the Commission for the Modernization of the Federal Order (KOMBO) in 2004 and agreed on a major constitutional reform.²The reform, which went into effect on September 1, 2006 was accompanied by criticism, but also by optimistic views that this could be the beginning of a “federalism.”³