Germany news: Germany marks Constitution Day

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AdvertisementSkip next section What you need to know

What you need to know

• President Steinmeier has called on people in Germany to engage in voluntary work as the country marks the 77th anniversary of its constitution 
• A record number of people obtained a German passport in 2025, a newspaper report says
• The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce has lowered its economic prognosis for this year amid the conflict in the Middle East

Here is a roundup of the top stories from and about Germany on Saturday, May 23, 2026:

Skip next section German lawmakers to visit Taiwan despite likely Chinese ire05/23/2026May 23, 2026

German lawmakers to visit Taiwan despite likely Chinese ire

A delegation of German lawmakers is traveling to Taiwan for a visit to start on Sunday, with a participating Green lawmaker calling on China not to interfere despite its view that the democratically governed island belongs to it.

Till Steffen, chairman of the Berlin-Taipei Parliamentary Circle of Friends, told the dpa news agency that relations with Taiwan were "extremely important" to the German parliament, or Bundestag.

"I would advise China not to interfere,” he said. "These are long-standing and stable relations that we have. We maintain them and we are expanding them."

Steffen also said that Taiwan was turning increasingly to Europe and Germany amid waning support from the US under the Trump administration.

Steffen is leading the five-person delegation, which will be in Taiwan until May 31.

 The group also includes lawmakers Klaus-Peter Willsch and Markus Reichel from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democrats, as well as Rainer Kraft from the far-right Alternative for Germany and Mandy Eissing from the Left Party.

The delegation plans to meet both with Taiwanese parliamentarians and with President Lai Ching-te.

How Taiwan is planning to outlast China

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https://p.dw.com/p/5EEIPSkip next section What is Germany's Basic Law (Grundgesetz)?05/23/2026May 23, 2026

What is Germany's Basic Law (Grundgesetz)?

 The Grundgesetz or Basic Law is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Its 146 articles lay out the basic rights of German citizens, the responsibilities of each state institution and other laws, all with the tenor of putting the state's exercise of power under democratic control.

In many ways, it was a response to the country's experiences under the Nazi dictatorship from 1933-1945 and aimed to prevent such things as dictatorships, the Holocaust and a world war started by Germany from every happening again.

It was written shortly after the end of World War II by the Parliamentary Council in what to soon become the West German capital, Bonn, and went into effect on May 23, 1949, effectively establishing the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Basic Law is placed over all other laws. The Constitutional Court in the western city of Karlsruhe is responsible for making sure that it is adhered to.

Its oft-quoted first article is as follows: "Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority."

The second article then says that the German people "acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and of justice in the world."

Among other things, the Basic Law goes on to stipulate that men and women have equal rights, that everyone has freedom of religious belief and that the politically persecuted have a right to asylum.

Any amendments to the constitution must be passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament: the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.

They must then be signed by the federal president.

Some 70 amendments have been made since 1949, including one to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 in 1972 and another in 1990 to admit several new federal states following reunification. 

However, several of its core principles, including those in its first article, are not able to be changed even with a two-thirds majority.

https://p.dw.com/p/5EEFpSkip next section READ: Record number of people take German passport in 202505/23/2026May 23, 2026

READ: Record number of people take German passport in 2025

More than 300,000 people obtained German passports in 2025, a 6% increase over the previous year, a newspaper has reported.

A new boom in naturalizations is expected next year when the many Ukrainian refugees in the country are likely to seek citizenship as they lose some of their protected status.

You can read more in this article: Germany: Record numbers take German passport in 2025

https://p.dw.com/p/5EE1ySkip next section President Steinmeier calls for democratic commitment, voluntary work05/23/2026May 23, 2026

President Steinmeier calls for democratic commitment, voluntary work

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called on people in Germany to work to uphold democracy in comments to mark the anniversary of the country's constitution or Basic Law (Grundgesetz).

"Democracy needs active citizens. It needs energy," he told the dpa news agency in Berlin.

"Our free democratic order lives from the contributions of every individual and from commitment in our society," he said.

He said that the Basic Law was a real achievement for the country and its social cohesion.

"But democracy is not just something intellectual. It needs arms and legs — people who get involved, who join in," he added.

Steinmeier has also called on people in Germany to become engaged in voluntary social work as part of their commitment to a democratic society, calling this year's anniversary an Ehrentag ("Day of Honor"). Ehrenamtlich is also a German word for "voluntary."

"By becoming involved, we can have a kind of basic democratic experience as a society and become aware that every one of us can do something, change something," he said.

The president plans to give an example himself on Saturday by doing gardening work at a public cemetery and taking part in activities at an aged-care home.

"It is a heartfelt wish of mine to anchor the birthday of our constitution much more strongly in the general awareness, beyond politics," he told dpa.

https://p.dw.com/p/5EEAkSkip next section Welcome to our coverage05/23/2026May 23, 2026

Welcome to our coverage

Timothy Jones | Wesley Dockery Editor

The DW newsroom welcomes all users of Germany's international broadcaster with a warm guten Tag in keeping with the current summer-like temperatures.

Saturday is "Grundgesetztag" in Germany — the day on which the country marks the anniversary of the day the constitution ("Grundgesetz" or "Basic Law") went into effect: May 23, 1949.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is using the occasion to call on people to take part in voluntary work, while himself giving a good example by reading to children, doing gardening work in a park and helping out in an elderly care home.

He has also urged Germans to be proactive in their defense of democratic ideals.

This comes as a newspaper report says that a record number of people took German citizenship in 2025, the year after the country made it legal for non-German nationals to hold two passports.

You can learn more about these and other stories from Europe's biggest economy in this blog. We wish you enjoyable reading!

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