Hellmut Königshaus © Hellmut Königshaus/ Frank Ossenbrink

Working on behalf of the Bundestag

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces is elected by the Members of the Bundestag in a secret ballot for a five-year term of office. The Commissioner is neither a Member of the Bundestag nor a civil servant - he occupies a special position.

The Commissioner works “to safeguard basic rights and to assist the Bundestag in exercising parliamentary oversight” over the armed forces, a task enshrined in the Basic Law (the German constitution).

The Commissioner’s exact tasks and powers are set out in the Act on the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces. This law specifies two reasons in particular for the Commissioner to take action: upon instructions from the Bundestag or its Defence Committee, and due to circumstances which suggest a violation of the basic rights of a member of the armed forces or of the principles of Innere Führung (leadership and civic education).