Committee chairman Ruprecht Polenz (CDU/CSU) © DBT

Classic and highly sensitive area of policy

The Committee on Foreign Affairs is a committee privileged by the constitution, since it is one of the four committees that are provided for on a permanent basis by the Basic Law. As a committee that deals with a classic area of policy, it oversees the government’s foreign policy, above all in the run up to important foreign and security policy decisions. As a matter of principle, it works behind closed doors because the topics it discusses are highly sensitive. For instance, its members are responsible for deliberating on whether the Federal Government should be allowed to deploy German soldiers on missions abroad.