Die Berliner Stunde – Funktionsweise und Erfahrungen: Zur Redeordnung des Deutschen Bundestages

The allocation of time for speeches is one of the essential issues in parliamentary speech regulations. Since the beginning of the 10th electoral term (1983), the Bundestag has allocated speech time to the parliamentary parties (or groups) using a system which has since proven its worth and is applied in most debates: the "Bonn hour" which became later the "Berlin hour". In this system, the total length of a debate is first determined based on a calculation unit agreed by the parliamentary groups at the beginning of each electoral term. This unit, known as an "hour", is generally somewhat longer than 60 minutes, currently 62. The total speaking time, e.g. two "Berlin hours", is then divided up amongst the parliamentary groups using a formula which is also agreed upon at the beginning of each electoral term. MPs who are not affiliated with a parliamentary group are allocated separate times. The formula is based on the relative strengths of the parliamentary groups. However, it also takes other factors into consideration, for example a bonus for smaller parliamentary groups, extra time for the opposition and also for the parliamentary groups supporting the government, since speeches made by the government in the debate count towards their speaking time.