Commissions and committees on minorities policy

The autochthonous minorities in Germany are represented on various political committees and commissions at a federal level.

The basic conditions for the national minorities’ political participation at a federal level are in place. However, the Minority Council demands their expansion. Most Bundestag members are not familiar with minority concerns, which accordingly will not be taken into consideration for political decisions. Such concerns touch on many policy areas, including security policy, media policy, educational policy, refugee policy, economic policy, environmental policy, infrastructure and development policy and European policy.

The challenge facing us all is to find effective avenues of communication so that minority concerns flow even more readily into federal and state parliamentary decision-making processes and are taken into account there.

The head of the Minorities Secretariat is a member of the advisory board of the “Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency” (ADS). At a European level, there is intensive collaboration between the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), the largest umbrella organisation of autochthonous national minorities and ethnic groups in Europe, and the Minority Secretariat and the minorities’ and ethnic groups’ representative organisations.

Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities

The basis for political participation is provided by the Minority Council and its Minority Secretariat in Berlin. There is also an office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and NationaMinorities, within the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

The office of Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers was established in 1988 and located within the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The remit of the office was enlarged in 2002 with the addition of a commission on behalf of national minorities. Natalie Pawlik has headed up this office since April 14, 2022.

More information on the Commission

Consultative committees

Consultative committees on issues relating to the Danish minority, the Frisian ethnic group, the Sorbian people, the German Sinti and Roma and the Low German language speakers’ group afford the various minorities and the Low German regional language contact with the federal government and the German Federal Parliament. Their focus is on the challenges specific to the various minorities.

Each of the five committees is chaired by the Federal Government Commissioner for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities. The Minority Secretariat is represented as a permanent guest on all Consultative Committees. Otherwise, membership of the committees is in accordance with the particular agenda.

Consultative Committee on Issues of the Danish Minority

The Consultative Committee has the task of negotiating on all issues of domestic federal policy that concern the Danish ethnic group.

Members are the Federal Minister of the Interior and a Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, two members eachof the various fractions of the German Bundestag, three members of the Danish minority in Germany and– representing the State of Schleswig-Holstein – the Minorities Commissioner.

Faction

Member

Deputies

SPD

does not report any deputies


CDU/CSU

Dr. Johann David Wadepuhl
johann.wadepuhl@bundestag.de


Gero Storjohann
gero.storjohann@bundestag.de

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

(report only one)

AfD

does not report any deputies

Die Linke

Cornelia Möhring cornelia.moehring@bundestag.de

Dr. Gesine Lötzsch
gesine.loetzsch@bundestag.de

does not report any deputies

Consultative Committee on Issues of the Frisian Ethnic Group

The Consultative Committee has the task of discussing all issues of federal domestic policy that affect the Frisian ethnic group.

Members of the committee are one representative each of the Frasche Rädj – Frisian Council Section North e.V., the Friisk Foriining, the North Frisian Association and the Seelter Buund, the Director of the North Frisian Institute and representatives of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the state governments of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. Members of the German Bundestag and representatives of other federal ministries may be invited to meetings.

Faction

Member

Deputies

CDU/CSU

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

FDP

Dr. Gero Hocker gero.hocker@bundestag.de

AfD

Die Linke

Dr. Gesine Lötzsch gesine.loetzsch@bundestag.de

Cornelia Möhring
cornelia.moehring@bundestag.de

Consultative Committee on Issues of the Sorbian People

The Consultative Committee has the task of discussing all issues of federal domestic policy that affect the Sorbian people.

Members of the Committee are, firstly, three members of the Sorbian people nominated by the Domowina and one representative of the Foundation for the Sorbian People, and secondly representatives of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the state governments of Brandenburg and Saxony. Members of the German Bundestag and representatives of other federal ministries may be invited to meetings.

Faction

Member

Deputies

CDU/CSU

Dr. Christiane Schenderlein christiane.schenderlein@bundestag.de

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

Merle Spellerberg merle.spellerberg@bundestag.de

Kassem Taher Saleh
kassem.tahersaleh@bundestag.de

FDP

Die Linke

Consultative Committee on Issues of the German Sinti and Roma

The Consultative Committee has the task of discussing all issues of federal policy that affect the German Sinti and the German Roma.

Members of the Committee are two members of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, two representatives of the Sinti Alliance Germany (Sinti Allianz Deutschland e.V.), one representative of the Minority Secretariat, and representatives of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Government Commission for Matters Related to Ethnic German Resettlers and National Minorities and the state governments of all federal states. Members of the German Bundestag and representatives of other federal ministries may be invited to meetings.

Faction

Member

Deputies

CDU/CSU

Christoph de Vries christoph.devries@bundestag.de

Dr. Silke Launert
silke.launert@bundestag.de

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

does not report any deputies

FDP

Sandra Bubendorfer-Licht sandra.bubendorfer-licht@bundestag.de

AfD

Markus Frohnmaier markus.frohnmaier@bundestag.de

does not report any deputies

Die Linke

Consultative Committee on Issues of the Low German Language Group

The Consultative Committee has the task of discussing all issues of federal domestic policy that affect the Low German Language Speakers’ Group.

Members of the Committee are four representatives of the Federal Council for Low German (Bundesrat für Niederdeutsch/Bundesraat för Nedderdüütsch), along with representatives of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the federal states of Bremen, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, North Rhineland-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. Members of the German Bundestag and representatives of other federal ministries may be invited to meetings.

Faction

Member

Deputies

CDU/CSU

Bündnis 90/Die GrünEN

does not report any deputies

FDP

Matthias Seestern-Pauly matthias.seestern-pauly@bundestag.de

AfD

Leif-Erik Holm erik.holm@bundestag.de

Die Linke

does not report any deputies

Federal-state conferences with minorities regarding Framework Agreement for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (implementation conferences)

The subjects of federal-state conferences (implementation conferences) are the implementation of the Framework Agreement for the Protection of National Minorities dated February 1, 1995 and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Language published by the Council of Europe on November 5, 1992. Participants are the federal ministries tasked with minorities protection and minority or regional languages, the state authorities charged with such responsibilities in the federal states, representatives of the umbrella organisations of the minorities and language speaker groups protected by these instruments and their research institutions.

State-federal Consultations on Low German

Since 2007, representatives of the federal states of Bremen, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, North Rhineland-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein and of the federal government have been meeting annually, alongside the Federal Council for Low German (Bundesrat für Niederdeutsch/Bundesraat för Nedderdüütsch), to discuss various questions of the diffusion and preservation of the Low German language. These meetings are arranged every year by one of the Low German federal states. The federal state concerned invites participants to attend in that state (or, depending on pandemic restrictions, online).

Attending the State-Federal Consultations on Low German are:

  • representatives for Low German from the eight federal states that also sit on the Consultative Committee for Low German
  • representatives of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Community
  • and, as guests: the Federal Council for Low German (Bundesraat för Nedderdüütsch/Niederdeutschsekretariat) and State Centre for Low German (Länderzentrum für Niederdeutsch)

National Minorities Discussion Group at the Committee of the Interior and Community Committee of the German Bundestag

In the Discussion Group, members of the German Bundestag hold discussions several times a year with representatives of the umbrella groups of the national minorities and the Low German speakers’ group, with the support of the Chair of the Committee of the Interior. Each parliamentary fraction has nominated rapporteurs for national minority affairs on the Committee of the Interior as its consultation partner.

Faction

Member

Deputies

SPD

CDU/CSU

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

FDP

AfD

Die Linke