Anyone who deals with German federalism cannot claim that responsibilities are perfectly distributed between the federal and state governments.

Nobody does that either.

But changing the whole thing is also extremely difficult, as the tussle over the two federalism reforms shows.

The usefulness of sixteen state offices for the protection of the constitution has been discussed for some time.

Disaster control is relatively new on the radar.

Helen Bubrowski

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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According to the Basic Law, the states are responsible, in a nationwide situation they have to coordinate.

There is one office that sounds like it pulls all the strings, namely the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), but its responsibilities are limited to cases of tension and defence, both of which have never existed before.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a call for the Bonn office to be given more powers.

More responsibility for the federal government?

The traffic light government has set itself the task.

According to the coalition agreement, the federal government must assume more responsibility for civil protection.

The BBK should be realigned and further developed "taking into account the federal distribution of powers to the central office".

The Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution are examples of such central offices.

In contrast to other federal authorities, they can coordinate the cooperation between the federal and state governments and also have the right to issue instructions to the state authorities in this regard.

Konstantin Kuhle, deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, wanted to know under what conditions the BBK can be converted into such a central office.

He contacted the scientific service of the Bundestag, whose report is now available.

It comes to the conclusion that such a reform requires an amendment to the Basic Law.

If the federal government wants to legally regulate cooperation with the federal states, the constitutional norm on the exclusive legislation of the federal government must also be adapted.

In any case, the required two-thirds majority in the Bundesrat is not in sight.

The topic has been on the table at all conferences of interior ministers in recent years, and the state ministers, especially those in the larger federal states, have always opposed the proposal to transfer competencies to the federal government.

Former Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) no longer wanted to lead this fruitless debate and took a new path: A joint competence center was to be created at the BBK.

The federal, state, local authorities and aid organizations should all sit around the same table so that everything comes together in the event of a disaster.

In June, the conference of interior ministers decided on the competence center.

At the same time, individual state ministers emphasized that their competence would remain unaffected.

Shortly before the anniversary of the flood disaster, Seehofer's successor Nancy Faeser (SPD) wants to present priorities for future work with the new BBK President Ralph Tiesler next week.

According to reports, an amendment to the Basic Law is not one of them.

And the BBK itself is not enthusiastic about the traffic light plans.

“Our goal is to strengthen civil protection in Germany.

We can do that with the current system, i.e. on the basis of our current constitution.

A discussion about responsibilities has led to disputes and distrust in the past and ultimately did not strengthen civil protection," said the spokeswoman for the BBK when asked by the FAZ.