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This procedure was not followed in 1971 when Honecker, as SED party leader, nominated Willi Stoph for the post. The chairman is empowered to select his ministers, whose appointments in turn are passed on by the People's Chamber. The Council of Ministers is subordinate to both the People's Chamber and nominally the Council of State, and carries out its activities within the framework of the decrees and decisions of the two superbodies. The Council of Ministers is empowered to adopt ordinances as necessary to accomplish its objectives and is theoretically responsible and accountable directly to the People's Chamber. The locus of power within the Council of Ministers resides in its Presidium, an inner cabinet composed in early 1972 of the chairman (Minister President) and 13 ministers, 10 of whom are deputy chairmen.
The regime has sought to solve its continuing economic problems partly by making a series of changes in the organization and personnel of the Council of Ministers. Since the New Economic System was formulated in 1963, these changes generally have reflected a desire to bring younger men trained in economics, technology, and management into government work in order to improve the efficiency of the bureaucracy. The introduction of the so-called technocrats into the governmental and party apparatus, however, has not diminished the party's control over economic decision-making. Most of the technocrats are themselves ideologically committed to communism and agree that the party must play the leading role in all spheres of life. In October 1972 the People's Chamber passed a law which increased the power of the council and redefined its relation to the other state organs. The primary intent of the law was to strengthen the central economic planning structures. It clarified individual ministerial responsibilities and provided for greater coordination between central organs and local agencies. In an effort to improve planning coordination between ministries, the law emphasized their collective responsibilities and accountability to parliament.
SED leaders, moreover, completely control the Council of Ministers. Willi Stoph is Minister President-Prime Minister; 12 of the 14 men who sit on the Presidium are SED members, of whom six including Stoph are also members or candidate members of the Politburo. Furthermore, each of the ministries and administrative units whose top officials comprise the Council of Ministers has a counterpart in the SED apparatus from whom he receives direction and guidance.
3. Judiciary
The imposition of a Communist regime in East Germany brought about sweeping changes in the legal system which had been inherited from the past. Like the other elements of government, the judiciary is completely dominated by the SED.
After a territorial reorganization in 1952, a series of laws restructured the judicial system and established the framework for court procedure. District and county courts were created to replace the old state (Land) courts, but these new courts and the local prosecutors' offices were subordinated to the Ministry of Justice, later designated as the central body for the administration of justice. The Supreme Court continued to function ostensibly as a separate branch of government, but it became for all practical purposes an instrument of the executive branch. Civil and criminal cases were treated within the same system, with direct appeals from lower to higher courts. Procedural law, changed to accord with the Soviet model, was designed to further the regime's objectives rather than to serve abstract concepts of justice.
In 1963 judicial reforms were introduced after 18 months of preparation and public "discussion." These changes revamped the judicial system, bringing it still more closely into line with that of the Soviet Union. The new legislation reduced considerably the authority of the Ministry of Justice, attached intermittently since 1956 as being too Stalinist, by ending its control over the lower courts and prosecutors' offices. The Supreme Court was assigned general supervision over the administration of justice in the lower courts, and the Prosecutor General's office was given administrative control over the district and county prosecutors' offices. Party control remained intact, however, and both the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General, constitutionally responsible to the People's Chamber under both the old and the new constitutions, continued in practice to be "guided" by the SED leadership.
The regime also followed the Soviet model in introducing arbitration commissions in residential areas, collectivized farms, and private enterprises, and by extending the use of conflict commissions to settle disputes in factories. These commissions were formed to relieve the regular courts of minor civil and criminal cases by transferring them to non-professional units more responsible to pressures by local SED organizations. The 1963 changes also reflected the strong influence of Soviet judicial practice in the emphasis placed on the need to reeducate offenders.
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