View source for German order of precedence

{{Short description|Relative preeminence of officials for ceremonial purposes}}
{{One source|date=March 2023}}
{{Precedence}}
The '''German [[order of precedence]]''' is a symbolic hierarchy of the highest federal offices in [[Germany]] used to direct protocol. It has no official status, but has been established in practical use.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.protokoll-inland.de/PI/DE/RangTitulierung/Rangfragen/rangfragen_node.html|title=Protokollarische Rangfragen|access-date=2017-09-17|archive-date=2017-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716111228/http://www.protokoll-inland.de/PI/DE/RangTitulierung/Rangfragen/rangfragen_node.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It consists of the holders or chairs of the five permanent constitutional bodies of the Federation.{{efn|The two non-permanent constitutional bodies, the [[Federal Convention (Germany)|Federal Convention]] and the [[Gemeinsamer Ausschuss|Joint Committee]], are headed by the President of the Bundestag in personal union.}}

# The [[President of Germany]], the head of state of Germany.
# The [[President of the Bundestag]], the speaker of the German parliament, the [[Bundestag]].
# The [[Chancellor of Germany (1949–present)|Chancellor of Germany]], the head of the [[Cabinet of Germany|government of Germany]].
# (1.) The [[President of the German Bundesrat|President of the Bundesrat]], the speaker of the [[Bundesrat of Germany|Bundesrat]], a federal legislative chamber, in which the governments of the sixteen German states are represented. The president of the Bundesrat is ''ex officio'' also deputy to the [[President of Germany]] (''Basic Law'', Article 57), thus becomes first in the order, while acting on behalf of the President or while acting as head of state during a vacancy of the presidency.
# The President of the [[Federal Constitutional Court of Germany|Federal Constitutional Court]], the supreme court of Germany.

==Current office-holders==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! No. !! Office !! Image !! Incumbent !! In office since !! Deputy(s)
|-
| 1st || [[File:Flag of the President of Germany.svg|80px]]<br>[[President of Germany]] || [[File:German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Helsinki 8.4.2022 (51990863165).jpg|100px]] || [[Frank-Walter Steinmeier]] || 19 March 2017 || [[Manuela Schwesig]]<br><small>[[President of the German Bundesrat|President of the Bundesrat]]<br>(See 4th)</small>
|-
| 2nd || [[File:Deutscher Bundestag logo.svg|80px]]<br>[[President of the Bundestag]] || [[File:Empfang für Bundestagspräsidentin Bärbel Bas im Kölner Rathaus-5456.jpg|100x100px]]|| [[Bärbel Bas]] || 26 October 2021 || [[Aydan Özoğuz]]<br>[[Yvonne Magwas]]<br>[[Katrin Göring-Eckardt]]<br>[[Wolfgang Kubicki]]<br>[[Petra Pau]]<br><small>[[Presidium of the Bundestag|Vice Presidents of the Bundestag]]</small>
|-
| 3rd || [[File:Flag of the Chancellor of Germany.svg|80px]]<br>[[Chancellor of Germany (1949–present)|Chancellor of Germany]] || [[File:Sánchez se reunió con el nuevo canciller alemán Olaf Scholz en La Moncloa 20220117 (8) (cropped).jpg|100px]] || [[Olaf Scholz]] || 8 December 2021 || [[Robert Habeck]]<br><small>[[Vice Chancellor of Germany]]</small>
|-
| 4th (1st) || [[File:Bundesrat Logo.svg|80px]]<br>[[President of the German Bundesrat|President of the Bundesrat]]|| [[File:2022-03-27 Wahlabend Saarland by Sandro Halank–061 (cropped).jpg|100px]] || [[Anke Rehlinger]] || 1 November 2024 || [[Manuela Schwesig]]<br><small>First Vice President of the Bundesrat</small><br>[[Andreas Bovenschulte]]<br><small>Second Vice President of the Bundesrat</small>
|-
| 5th || [[File:Bundesadler Bundesorgane.svg|80px]]<br>[[Federal Constitutional Court of Germany|President of the Federal Constitutional Court]] || [[File:Harbarth-Stephan-Portrait-2017-1.jpg|100px]] || [[Stephan Harbarth]] || 22 June 2020 || [[Doris König]]<br><small>Vice President of the Federal Constitutional Court</small>
|}

==Living former office-holders==
The order of precedence is also observed with respect to former office-holders in some cases, for example if they participate in official ceremonies as honoured guests.

*[[Horst Köhler]], President of Germany (2004–2010)
*[[Christian Wulff]], President of Germany (2010–2012)
*[[Joachim Gauck]], President of Germany (2012–2017)
*[[Rita Süssmuth]], President of the Bundestag (1988–1998)
*[[Wolfgang Thierse]], President of the Bundestag (1998–2005)
*[[Norbert Lammert]], President of the Bundestag (2005–2017)
*[[Gerhard Schröder]], Chancellor of Germany (1998–2005), President of the Bundesrat (1997–1998)
*[[Angela Merkel]], Chancellor of Germany (2005–2021)
*[[Bernhard Vogel (politician)|Bernhard Vogel]], President of the Bundesrat (1976–1977 and 1987–1988)
*[[Björn Engholm]], President of the Bundesrat (1988–1989)
*[[Walter Momper]], President of the Bundesrat (1989–1990)
*[[Berndt Seite]], President of the Bundesrat (1992)
*[[Oskar Lafontaine]], President of the Bundesrat (1992–1993)
*[[Klaus Wedemeier]], President of the Bundesrat (1993–1994)
*[[Edmund Stoiber]], President of the Bundesrat (1995–1996)
*[[Erwin Teufel]], President of the Bundesrat (1996–1997)
*[[Hans Eichel]], President of the Bundesrat (1998–1999)
*[[Roland Koch]], President of the Bundesrat (1999)
*[[Kurt Beck]], President of the Bundesrat (2000–2001)
*[[Klaus Wowereit]], President of the Bundesrat (2001–2002)
*[[Wolfgang Böhmer]], President of the Bundesrat (2002–2003)
*[[Dieter Althaus]], President of the Bundesrat (2003–2004)
*[[Matthias Platzeck]], President of the Bundesrat (2004–2005)
*[[Peter Harry Carstensen]], President of the Bundesrat (2005–2006)
*[[Ole von Beust]], President of the Bundesrat (2007–2008)
*[[Peter Müller (politician)|Peter Müller]], President of the Bundesrat (2008–2009)
*[[Jens Böhrnsen]], President of the Bundesrat (2009–2010)
*[[Hannelore Kraft]], President of the Bundesrat (2010–2011)
*[[Horst Seehofer]], President of the Bundesrat (2011–2012)
*[[Winfried Kretschmann]], President of the Bundesrat (2012–2013)
*[[Stephan Weil]], President of the Bundesrat (2013–2014)
*[[Volker Bouffier]], President of the Bundesrat (2014–2015)
*[[Stanislaw Tillich]], President of the Bundesrat (2015–2016)
*[[Malu Dreyer]], President of the Bundesrat (2016–2017)
*[[Michael Müller (politician, born 1964)|Michael Müller]], President of the Bundesrat (2017–2018)
*[[Daniel Günther]], President of the Bundesrat (2018–2019)
*[[Dietmar Woidke]], President of the Bundesrat (2019–2020)
*[[Reiner Haseloff]], President of the Bundesrat (2020–2021)
*[[Bodo Ramelow]], President of the Bundesrat (2021–2022)
*[[Peter Tschentscher]], President of the Bundesrat (2022–2023)
*[[Manuela Schwesig]], President of the Bundesrat (2023–2024)
*[[Hans-Jürgen Papier]], President of the Federal Constitutional Court (2002–2010)
*[[Andreas Voßkuhle]], President of the Federal Constitutional Court (2010–2020)

==Trivia==

As of November 2024, 112 persons have held at least one of the five highest German federal offices. Nine of them were female:

*[[Annemarie Renger]], President of the Bundestag (1972–1976)
*[[Rita Süssmuth]], President of the Bundestag (1988–1998)
*[[Jutta Limbach]], President of the Federal Constitutional Court (1994–2002)
*[[Angela Merkel]], Chancellor of Germany (2005–2021)
*[[Hannelore Kraft]], President of the Bundesrat (2010–2011)
*[[Malu Dreyer]], President of the Bundesrat (2016–2017)
*[[Bärbel Bas]], President of the Bundestag (incumbent since 2021)
*[[Manuela Schwesig]], President of the Bundesrat (2023–2024)
*[[Anke Rehlinger]], President of the Bundesrat (incumbent since 2024)

The following people have held two different of these offices:

*[[Kai-Uwe von Hassel]], President of the Bundesrat (1955–1956), President of the Bundestag (1969–1972)
*[[Willy Brandt]], President of the Bundesrat (1957–1958), Chancellor of Germany (1969–1974)
*[[Kurt-Georg Kiesinger]], President of the Bundesrat (1962–1963), Chancellor of Germany (1966–1969)
*[[Karl Carstens]], President of the Bundestag (1976–1979), President of Germany (1979–1984)
*[[Johannes Rau]], President of the Bundesrat (1982–1983 and 1994–1995), President of Germany (1999–2004)
*[[Roman Herzog]], President of the Federal Constitutional Court (1987–1994), President of Germany (1994–1999)
*[[Gerhard Schröder]], President of the Bundesrat (1997–1998), Chancellor of Germany (1998–2005)

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Orders of precedence|Germany]]
[[Category:Government of Germany]]

[[de:Protokollarische Rangordnung#Deutschland]]