Federal Ministry of Finance (Germany)

Coordinates: 52°30′31″N 13°23′3″E / 52.50861°N 13.38417°E / 52.50861; 13.38417

Federal Ministry of Finance
Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF)
Agency overview
Formed 14 July 1879 (Reichsschatzamt)
Jurisdiction Cabinet of Germany
Headquarters Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus
Wilhelmstraße 97, 10117 Berlin
Employees 1900
Minister responsible
Agency executives
  • Steffen Kampeter, Parliamentary State Secretary
  • Hartmut Koschyk, Parliamentary State Secretary
  • Bernard Beus, State Secretary
  • Werner Gatzer, State Secretary
  • Thomas Steffen, State Secretary
Website http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de

The Federal Ministry of Finance (German: Bundesministerium der Finanzen), abbreviated BMF, is the cabinet-level finance ministry of Germany, with its seat at the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus in Berlin and a secondary office in Bonn. The current Federal Minister of Finance is Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU).

History

In German politics, the Ministry of Finance beside the Interior, Foreign, Justice and Defence ministries is counted as one of the "classical portfolios" (denoted by the definite article der), which were also part of the first German government under Otto von Bismarck following the Unification of 1871.

Pre-war ministry on Wilhelmplatz, Berlin, 1930s

Fiscal policy in the German Empire was predominantly the domain of the various states responsible for all direct taxation according to the 1833 Zollverein treaties. The federal government merely received indirect contributions from the states. Matters of fiscal policy at the federal level initially was the exclusive responsibility of the German Chancellery under Otto von Bismarck. However, in 1877 a special finance department was established, which with effect from 14 July 1879 was separated from the chancellery as the Imperial Treasury (Reichsschatzamt), a federal agency in its own right. With its seat vis-à-vis on Wilhelmplatz in Berlin, it was first headed by a subsecretary, and from 1880 by a Secretary of State only answerable to the chancellor.

After World War I, the newly established Weimar Republic had to face huge reparations and a fiscal emergency. To cope with the implications, the former Reichsschatzamt in 1919 was re-organised as a federal ministry, the Reichsministerium der Finanzen, as supreme financial authority headed by a federal minister. Besides a Reich Treasury Ministry (Reichsschatzministerium) was established for the administration of the federal property, both agencies were merged in 1923.

Already in the German cabinet of Chancellor Franz von Papen, Undersecretary Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk was appointed Finance Minister in 1932, an office he held throughout the Nazi era until 1945. The ministry played a vital role in financing the German re-armament, in the "Aryanization" of Jewish property ("Reich Flight Tax"), German war economy, and the plundering of occupied countries in World War II. The budget deficit had already reached heady heights on the eve of the war, aggrandised by hidden Mefo and Oeffa bill financing. In turn, saving banks and credit institutions were obliged to sign war bonds while price stability was enforced by government intervention and the German public was called up to bank surplus money.

After World War II the ministry was re-established in 1949 and renamed the West German Bundesministerium der Finanzen.[1] Since 1999, the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus (former Air Ministry Building) in Berlin has been the headquarters of the ministry.

Structure and function

Minister Wolfgang Schäuble

The Ministry is the supreme federal authority in revenue administration and governs a number of subordinate federal, intermediate, and local authorities such as the Federal Centre for Data Processing and Information Technology (ZIVIT). The Ministry’s wider portfolio includes public-law agencies and corporations such as the Federal Finance Regulator (BaFin) and Real Estate regulatory bodies. The finance minister is the only cabinet minister who can veto a decision of the government if it would lead to additional expenditure.

The Finance Ministry is responsible for all aspects of tax and revenue policy in Germany and plays a significant role in European Union policy. It has nine directorates-general:[2]

Subordinate agencies

Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus, Berlin headquarters
entrance to the headquarters in Bonn

The federal ministry directly governs the following agencies:[3]

Legally independent entities in the Ministry's wider portfolio include:

Federal Ministers of Finance

Main article: List of German finance ministers

Political Party:   CSU   CDU   FDP   SPD

Name
(Born-Died)		 Party Term of Office Chancellor
(Cabinet)
1 Fritz Schäffer
(1888–1967)		 CSU 20 September 1949 29 October 1957 Adenauer
(I • II)
2 Franz Etzel
(1902–1970)		 CDU 29 October 1957 14 November 1961 Adenauer
(III)
3 Heinz Starke
(1911–2001)		 FDP 14 November 1961 19 November 1962 Adenauer
(IV)
4 Rolf Dahlgrün
(1908–1969)		 FDP 14 December 1962 28 October 1966 Adenauer (V)
Erhard (I • II)
5 Kurt Schmücker
(1919–1996)		 CDU 8 November 1966 30 November 1966 Erhard
(II)
6 Franz Josef Strauß
(1915–1988)		 CSU 1 December 1966 21 October 1969 Kiesinger
(I)
7 Alex Möller
(1903–1985)		 SPD 22 October 1969 13 May 1971 Brandt
(I)
8 Karl Schiller
(1911–1994)		 SPD 13 May 1971 7 July 1972
9 Helmut Schmidt
(1918–2015)		 SPD 7 July 1972 1 May 1974 Brandt
(I • II)
10 Hans Apel
(1932–2011)		 SPD 16 May 1974 15 February 1978 Schmidt
(I • II)
11 Hans Matthöfer
(1925–2009)		 SPD 16 February 1978 28 April 1982 Schmidt
(II • III)
12 Manfred Lahnstein
(b. 1937)		 SPD 28 April 1982 1 October 1982 Schmidt
(III)
13 Gerhard Stoltenberg
(1928–2001)		 CDU 4 October 1982 21 April 1989 Kohl
(I • II • III)
14 Theodor Waigel
(b. 1939)		 CSU 21 April 1989 27 October 1998 Kohl
(III • IV • V)
15 Oskar Lafontaine
(b. 1943)		 SPD 27 October 1998 18 March 1999 Schröder
(I)
16 Hans Eichel
(b. 1941)		 SPD 12 April 1999 22 November 2005 Schröder
(I • II)
17 Peer Steinbrück
(b. 1947)		 SPD 22 November 2005 28 October 2009 Merkel
(I)
18 Wolfgang Schäuble
(b. 1942)		 CDU 28 October 2009 Incumbent Merkel
(II • III)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Die Geschichte des BMF (archived)
  2. ↑ BMF: What We Do (English) retrieved 1 June 2012.
  3. ↑ BMF: Subordinate Agencies

External links

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