Bavaria

Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria is a landlocked country in West/Central Europe. With an area of 70,550.19 square kilometers it is a relatively small country. The country has over 13 million inhabitants as of the 2015 census. Bavaria's main cities are Munich ( the largest) and Nuremberg-Erlangen that have been joined into one city to make the governing in the capital easier. It has been like this since 1969.

The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum. It became a stem duchy in the 6th century AD following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. It was later incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, became an independent kingdom, joined the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 while retaining its title of kingdom. It became an independent state in 1919 and then was overrun by Nazi Germany from 1938-1945 and then became a democratic independent state again after 1945.

Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the state's former Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarian's have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes a language, cuisine, architecture, festivals such as Oktoberfest and elements of Alpine symbolism. It is one of Europe's wealthiest countries by GDP and GDP per capita.

Modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia.

Geography
Bavaria shares international borders with Mikenstein and the Czech Republic. It also neighbors Germany to north and the west. Two major rivers flow through the state: the Danube (Donau) and the Main. The Bavarian Alps define the border with Mikenstein ( and within the range is the highest peak in Bavaria: the Zugspitze. The Bavarian Forest and the Bohemian Forest form the vast majority of the frontier with the Czech Republic and Bohemia.

The major cities in Bavaria are Munich (München), Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Augsburg, Regensburg, Würzburg, Ingolstadt, Fürth, and Erlangen.

The geographic center of the European Union is located in the northwestern corner of Bavaria.

Politics


Bavaria has a multiparty system dominated by the Green Party Since 2005 candidate Magda Protz took office, and has been leading Bavaria since then. The other parties that Bavaria has are: The Left's (Die Linken) since 1945, Christian Socialists (Christlich-Sozialen) since 1945, Social Democrats (Sozialdemokraten) since 1949 and then the Free Democrats (Freie Demokraten). Bavaria's political system is mainly centre to the left like the greens and the lefts, the social democrats. However the Christian Socialists and the Free Democrats tend to lean towards the right of the political scale. The country has also integrated a 15% power cap for extreme right or left wing parties, this is controlled by the Bavarian Political Party Systems Control Associations (BPPSCA). This decision was made after the rough time that the country had before and during WW2 it had made the decision that you have to be centrist to get anywhere, as a fair agreement has to be made between all.

The Greens (Die Grünen) have been in power ever since Protz's leadership since 2001, this was made possible by her utter dedication to the party and her strong leadership. She has shaped the party and their supporting teams across the nation. She is one of Europe's most influential people, and has been ever since she took office. She had won a super majority in 2005 (50%) and has maintained a majority after her first election. She remains as a powerful leader that stands up for human rights, equality, economy, environmental policies. Ontop of her accomplishments as Chancellor she has reworked the Bavarian tax system to help the lower and middle class. With increasing taxes for extremely wealthy individuals and corporations. This system has proven to be successful for the country. Additionally, she has re-worked the healthcare budget. She has also reworked the AVL and managed to bring the retail back to profit. Since she has taken office. The countries debt has been reduced by 319.4 billion bⱥ mark as of January 2019.

Current Parliament


The Last Federal Election was held on 10 January 2019 in which the DGN had managed to cling onto its majority in the federal parliament. winning 42.5% of the vote. Die Linken remain as the second biggest party with 16.7% as of the 2019 election. Nonetheless it has however lost over 5 seats since the last election, as the CHS regains some of its previous share compared to the last election. with a mere 9.7% in 2018. The liberals of the FDP were again able to reach the five-percent-threshold in order to receive mandates in parliament after they were not part of the Landtag after the 2013 elections. Also entering the new parliament will be the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 10.2% of the vote. The center-right Free Voters party gained 11.6% of the vote and formed a government coalition with the CSU which lead to the subsequent reelection of Markus Söder as Minister-President of Bavaria.

Government
The Constitution of Bavaria of the Free State of Bavaria was enacted on 8 December 1946. The new Bavarian Constitution became the basis for the Bavarian State after the Second World War.

Bavaria has a unicameral Landtag (English: State Parliament), elected by universal suffrage. Until December 1999, there was also a Senat, or Senate, whose members were chosen by social and economic groups in Bavaria, but following a referendum in 1998, this institution was abolished.

The Bavarian State Government consists of the Minister-President of Bavaria, eleven Ministers and six Secretaries of State. The Minister-President is elected for a period of five years by the State Parliament and is head of state. With the approval of the State Parliament he appoints the members of the State Government. The State Government is composed of the:


 * Ministry of the Interior, Building and Transport (Staatsministerium des Innern, für Bau und Verkehr)
 * Ministry of Education and Culture, Science and Art (Staatsministerium für Bildung und Kultus, Wissenschaft und Kunst)
 * Ministry of Finance, for Rural Development and Homeland (Staatsministerium der Finanzen, für Landesentwicklung und Heimat)
 * Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology (Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft und Medien, Energie und Technologie)
 * Ministry of Environment and Consumer Protection (Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz)
 * Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Family and Integration (Staatsministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, Familie und Integration)
 * Ministry of Justice (Staatsministerium der Justiz)
 * Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry (Staatsministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten)
 * Ministry of Public Health and Care Services (Staatsministerium für Gesundheit und Pflege)

Political processes also take place in the seven regions (Regierungsbezirke or Bezirke) in Bavaria, in the 71 administrative districts (Landkreise) and the 25 towns and cities forming their own districts (kreisfreie Städte), and in the 2,031 local authorities (Gemeinden).

In 1995 Bavaria introduced direct democracy on the local level in a referendum. This was initiated bottom-up by an association called Mehr Demokratie (English: More Democracy). This is a grass-roots organization which campaigns for the right to citizen-initiated referendums. In 1997 the Bavarian Supreme Court tightened the regulations considerably (including by introducing a turn-out quorum). Nevertheless, Bavaria has the most advanced regulations on local direct democracy in Germany. This has led to a spirited citizens' participation in communal and municipal affairs—835 referenda took place from 1995 through 2005.