Browsing around the other day on a wiki article for Kurt Schumacher, I came across this
-What would it take to get at least part of Schumacher's plans granted, and have the FRG become a Presidential, rather than parliamentary Republic?
- What would this look like in terms of structure? Presumably it would be more like modern day France than the US?
-What impact would it have on the development of West Germany in the long run? Would it still mean a CDU led government?
Others might know a bit more about this than I do, but my questions are:Schumacher wanted a new constitution with a strong national presidency, confident that he would occupy that post. But the first draft of the 1949 Grundgesetz provided for a federal system with a weak national government, as favoured both by the Allies and the CDU. Schumacher refused to give way on this, and eventually the Allies, keen to get the new German state functioning in the face of the Soviet challenge, conceded some of what Schumacher wanted. The new federal government would be dominant over the states, although the president would be weak.
-What would it take to get at least part of Schumacher's plans granted, and have the FRG become a Presidential, rather than parliamentary Republic?
- What would this look like in terms of structure? Presumably it would be more like modern day France than the US?
-What impact would it have on the development of West Germany in the long run? Would it still mean a CDU led government?