The way the Committee works

The meetings of the Defence Committee take place regularly on Wednesdays in the weeks which the Bundestag has designated as weeks of sittings. Since, like the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Defence Committee is a so-called "closed committee", access to its meetings is restricted to the titular committee members, their substitutes, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, the chairpersons of the parliamentary groups and the President of the German Bundestag. Representatives of the ministries and the Land governments expressly authorized in advance and specific members of staff from the parliamentary groups and the administration are also permitted to attend. The distribution of documents concerning meetings, including the minutes, is also restricted to a group of persons decided by the Committee itself.

In the current 16th electoral term, the Defence Committee has set up – as in the 15th electoral term - the Subcommittee "Development of Internal Leadership, Political Education and Social Responsibility for Members of the Bundeswehr against the Backdrop of Changing Deployment Tasks and Structures". This Subcommittee is intended to ensure adequate parliamentary consideration of these issues with regard to the Bundeswehr’s increasing number of missions abroad. In addition, the Defence Committee has established two rapporteur groups on “Cooperation with the Business Community” and "Research and Development and Armaments Cooperation at European Level".