President of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Federal President is the head of state of the Federal Republic of Germany. He or she is elected by the Federal Convention for a period of five years.
Among his/her major functions are:
- representing the Federal Republic of Germany within and outside the country,
- proposing a person for election to the office of Federal Chancellor (Article 63 of the Basic Law),
- appointing and dismissing the Federal Chancellor (Articles 63, 67 of the Basic Law) and the federal ministers (Article 64 of the Basic Law),
- dissolving the German Bundestag (Articles 63, 68 of the Basic Law),
- certifying and promulgating laws (Article 82 of the Basic Law),
- representing the Federal Republic of Germany for the purposes of international law and concluding of treaties with foreign states (Article 59 of the Basic Law).
| Name | from | to |
|---|---|---|
| Prof. Dr. Theodor Heuss | 12 Sep. 1949 | 12 Sep. 1959 |
| Dr. h. c. Heinrich Lübke | 13 Sep. 1959 | 30 June 1969 |
| Dr. Dr. Gustav W. Heinemann | 1 July 1969 | 30 June 1974 |
| Walter Scheel | 1 July 1974 | 30 June 1979 |
| Prof. Dr. Karl Carstens | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1984 |
| Dr. Richard von Weizäcker | 1 July 1984 | 30 June 1994 |
| Prof. Dr. Roman Herzog | 1 July 1994 | 30 June 1999 |
| Johannes Rau | 1 July 1999 | 30 June 2004 |
| Prof. Dr. Horst Köhler | 1 July 2004 | 31 May 2010 |
| Christian Wulff | 2 July 2010 | 17 Feb. 2012 |
| Joachim Gauck | 23 March 2012 | 18 March 2017 |
| Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier | 19 March 2017 |
Last update: 20 March 2017