The Presiding Committee of the Landtag

The President of the Landtag holds the highest office in the Land of Brandenburg in terms of protocol. She

• upholds the dignity and rights of the Landtag, supports its work and conducts the proceedings of the Landtag fairly and impartially.
• represents the Landtag externally, appoints and dismisses the employees of the Landtag.
• exercises the property rights and police powers in the Landtag building.
• has an advisory vote on all committees.
• manages the income and expenditure of the Landtag in accordance with the budget.

If the President is prevented from attending, she is represented by the two Vice-Presidents. If the President and the Vice-Presidents are prevented from attending, the right to represent passes to the other members of the Presiding Committee in the order of size of the parliamentary groups.

The Presiding Committee supports the President in the conduct of business and mediates between the parliamentary groups to bring about the necessary agreement. It has to arrange the schedule for meetings of the parliament and its bodies and draw up the agenda for the respective plenary sessions. The Presiding Committee takes decisions on general matters concerning the members of parliament and the Landtag administration insofar as they are not the prerogative of the President; in particular, it is responsible for adopting the proposed budget of the Landtag. Likewise, one of the tasks of the Presiding Committee is to bring about agreement on the distribution of the committee chairs and their deputies.

The regular meetings of the Presiding Committee generally take place one week before the plenary sessions. According to the Rules of Procedure of the Landtag Brandenburg, the President is also obliged to convene a special meeting of the Presiding Committee immediately at the request of one fifth of the Presiding Committee members.