Fragen 31 bis 60

When parties work together to form a government, this is called a coalition. A parliamentary group is the association of a party's members in parliament, a ministry is a government authority, and "unity" does not describe a form of government.

Under Article 20(2) of the Basic Law, state authority is exercised through legislation (parliament), executive power (government and administration) and the judiciary (courts). The press is not a state power; it is free and in private hands.

Under Article 140 of the Basic Law in conjunction with Article 136 of the Weimar Constitution, the state and religious communities are separate; the state is neutral in matters of belief. Religious communities therefore do not form the state, and the state is not dependent on them.

Under Article 20 of the Basic Law, Germany is a democracy, a state based on the rule of law, a social state and a federal state. Germany is not a monarchy, because the head of state is elected and not determined by succession.

Social insurance is financed mainly through social contributions, that is, contributions from employees and employers, supplemented by federal subsidies. Church tax, donations and club fees go to other bodies and do not finance social insurance.

Health insurance is part of social insurance and protects people in the event of illness; it therefore creates social security. Car, building and liability insurance are private property or liability insurances and do not serve social security.

In 13 of the 16 federal states the head of government is called Minister-President. Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen use their own titles (Governing Mayor, First Mayor, President of the Senate); senators there are members of the government, and "First Minister" or "Prime Minister" are not German titles.

Article 20(1) of the Basic Law calls the Federal Republic of Germany a "democratic and social federal state". A confederation or association of states is a loose union of sovereign states (like the EU), and a central state has no states of its own with independent powers.

Every federal state has its own government and its own parliament and may decide for itself in many areas, for example education. Foreign policy, currency and the armed forces, by contrast, are matters for the federation.

The national anthem begins with the third stanza of the Deutschlandlied: "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit …". "Völker, hört die Signale" comes from the Internationale, "Freude schöner Götterfunken" from Schiller's Ode to Joy, and "Deutschland einig Vaterland" is a line from the anthem of the GDR.

In a democracy, several parties participate in forming political opinion (Article 21 of the Basic Law) so that the different views of citizens are represented. Multiple parties are not meant to limit bribery, prevent demonstrations or stimulate economic competition.

Laws are passed by parliament, at federal level by the Bundestag with the involvement of the Bundesrat (Article 77 of the Basic Law). The government introduces bills, the courts apply the laws, and the police enforce them.

Under Article 21(2) of the Basic Law, a party can be banned if it seeks to eliminate the free democratic basic order; only the Federal Constitutional Court can impose such a ban. An expensive campaign, criticism of the head of state or a new programme are not grounds for a party ban.

The Federal President is elected by the Federal Convention, not directly by the people (Article 54 of the Basic Law). Members of the European Parliament, the Bundestag and the state parliaments, by contrast, are elected directly.

Long-term care insurance is one of the pillars of social insurance, alongside health, pension, unemployment and accident insurance (Social Code XI, introduced in 1995). Household contents, liability and fire insurance are private insurances; accident insurance is also part of social insurance but has nothing to do with long-term care.

One of the state's tasks is providing public services, for example building roads and schools. Food and clothing are sold by private shops, cars and buses are produced by private companies, and newspapers are not supplied free of charge by the state.

Child benefit, support for museums and the promotion of athletes are tasks of the state. The state does not pay for holiday trips for all nationals, because that would not be a public task.

The constitutional organs are the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, the Federal Government, the Federal President and the Federal Constitutional Court. A citizens' assembly is not a constitutional organ but a meeting of citizens.

School policy is the responsibility of the federal states (cultural sovereignty, Articles 30 and 70 of the Basic Law); each state has its own school laws. Teachers, the Ministry for Family Affairs and the universities do not determine school policy.

The economic order of the Federal Republic of Germany is the social market economy: free competition, but with social balance. Planned economy and directed central economy are state-controlled systems, and a "free central economy" does not exist.

In a state governed by the rule of law, only the state may interfere with personal liberty, and only on a legal basis; a private police force arresting people without cause is incompatible with this (Art. 2(2) GG). Freedom of expression (a) and freedom of assembly (b) are fundamental rights under Art. 5 and Art. 8 GG, and arrest after a crime (d) is lawful.

Popular sovereignty means that all state authority derives from the people (Art. 20(2) GG). The Bundestag (b) is itself an organ of the people, the Prussian king (c) stands for the monarchy that was overcome, and the Federal Constitutional Court (d) reviews state authority but is not its source.

In a state under the rule of law, the state itself is bound by statute and constitution (Art. 20(3) GG). Answer a is merely a play on words, b confuses "right" with "right-wing parties", and c describes popular sovereignty, not the state's binding to the law.

Under Art. 20(2) GG state authority is exercised through the legislature, the executive and the judiciary; there is no "directive" as a fourth branch. The legislature (a) passes laws, the judiciary (b) administers justice, and the executive (c) implements the laws.

The picture shows the plenary chamber of the German Bundestag in the Reichstag building in Berlin. The Federal Constitutional Court (b) is based in Karlsruhe, the Bundesrat (c) meets in the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin, and the Federal Chancellery (d) is a separate modern building in the government quarter.

The public order office belongs to the municipal or city administration and deals, for example, with trade, noise and public order matters. A parish office (a) belongs to a church congregation, the tax office (c) is a state authority, and the Federal Foreign Office (d) is a federal authority.

By tradition the strongest parliamentary group provides the President of the Bundestag, who is elected by parliament with a majority of its members. The oldest member (a) only chairs the first sitting as president by seniority, and b and c do not reflect constitutional practice.

Under Art. 64(1) GG the Federal President appoints the federal ministers on the proposal of the Federal Chancellor. The presidents of the Federal Constitutional Court (a), the Bundesrat (c) and the Bundestag (d) have no role in this.

A Jewish community in Cologne is documented for the year 321 AD, which is around 1700 years ago. The figures in a to c are far too close to the present and are therefore incorrect.

The Bundestag and the Bundesrat are the federal legislative bodies and therefore part of the legislature. The executive (a) consists of the Federal Government and the administration, a "directive" (c) is not a branch of state power, and the judiciary (d) consists of the courts.