Committees of inquiry
In accordance with Article 44 of the Basic Law the Bundestag has the right to set up committees of inquiry to investigate specific matters; it is obliged to do so upon the motion of one quarter of its Members. This very important minority right is used in particular by the opposition to ensure investigation of cases of alleged misgovernment, maladministration or misconduct on the part of individual politicians. The motion must contain a precise description of the subject of the inquiry. When deciding to set up a committee of inquiry, the Bundestag also decides on its size. Generally, such committees are relatively small with between five and seven members. Committees of inquiry have the right to summon and swear in witnesses and to demand that the Federal Government submit files and grant permission for its civil servants to give evidence. The Federal Government may only refuse to do so if, by submitting files or granting such permission, it feels it would harm the interests of the Federation or one of its constituent states, or seriously jeopardize or impede the performance of public functions. In principle, committees of inquiry must hear evidence in public.
Committees of inquiry summarize their findings in a report which they submit to the plenary. If there are differences of opinion on the findings between the ruling coalition and the opposition, as is mostly the case, the report contains both the majority and the minority view. More important, however, than the report, which appears some time after the completion of the committee's work, is the impact on public opinion of the committee's public meetings. Two committees of inquiry were set up in the 13th electoral term (1994-1998):
- 1st Committee of Inquiry,
concerned with the illegal plutonium deal in Munich in August 1994; - 2nd Committee of Inquiry,
concerned with assets of the GDR and, in particular, the question whether prior to the peaceful revolution in 1989 state-owned enterprises and the Department of Commercial Coordination worked together with and transferred funds to the intelligence division of the Ministry of State Security.
