Duties and Functions
The degree of power actually conferred upon the president by the Basic Law is ambiguous. However, in practice, holders of the office treat it as a largely ceremonial one and act with the advice of the Federal Government. Unlike many constitutions, the Basic Law does not designate the head of state as the commander-in-chief of the military (ceremonially or otherwise). This role is vested in times of peace in the Minister of Defense, going to the Chancellor rather than the president in times of war, by Article 65a. Nevertheless Germany cannot declare a state of war without the approval of the president. The president carries out the following duties:
Read more about this topic: President Of Germany
Famous quotes containing the words duties and, duties and/or functions:
“The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The application requisite to the duties of the office I hold [governor of Virginia] is so excessive, and the execution of them after all so imperfect, that I have determined to retire from it at the close of the present campaign.”
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“Those things which now most engage the attention of men, as politics and the daily routine, are, it is true, vital functions of human society, but should be unconsciously performed, like the corresponding functions of the physical body.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)