Germany
The Ministerpräsident is the head of government of a German state; the office roughly corresponds to the governor of a U.S. State and more closely to the premier of an Australian state or Canadian province; (strictly speaking the governor of a U.S. state is the chief executive under a presidential system whereas the Ministerpräsident of a German state as well as the premier of an Australian state or Canadian province is the head of government under a parliamentary system). The feminine form Ministerpräsidentin may be used to refer to female office-holders.
The title is commonly translated as "prime minister" or "(State) Premier"; whereas "minister-president" or less often "minister president" is used in official business in order not to confuse the incumbent with a head of government of a nation-state.
The constitutional position of a minister-president is comparable to the one of chancellor at the federal level.
Ministers-president of the German states are elected by their respective state parliaments and appoint ministers in their respective states (in six states the appointment of ministers is also subject to parliamentary approval), and determine policy guidelines. Along with several of their ministers, they commonly represent their state in the Bundesrat (the German Federal Council) or abroad. By virtue of their position in the Bundesrat, they can exert considerable influence on national politics within the federal structure.
In the case of the three German city-states -- Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg -- the head of the state government is not called a Ministerpräsident but goes by a different title, viz. Regierender Bürgermeister (Governing Mayor of Berlin), Bürgermeister und Präsident des Senats (Mayor and President of the Senate) of Bremen, and Erster Bürgermeister (First Mayor) of Hamburg. Despite this difference in terminology, however, the heads of government of these city-states hold the same power and position as the ministers-president of the other German states.
See:
- List of Minister-Presidents of Baden-Württemberg
- List of Ministers-President of Bavaria
- List of Ministers-President of Brandenburg
- Minister-President of Lower Saxony
- List of Ministers-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- List of Ministers-President of North Rhine-Westphalia
- List of Ministers-President of Rhineland-Palatinate
- List of Ministers-President of Saarland
- List of Ministers-President of Saxony
- List of Ministers-President of Saxony-Anhalt
- List of Ministers-President of Schleswig-Holstein
- List of Ministers-President of Thuringia
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