The Committee on Foreign Affairs is one of the few committees to be anchored in the constitution. Article 45a (1) of the Basic Law stipulates that the Bundestag must establish a Committee on Foreign Affairs. As a classical political committee, it monitors government foreign policy, particularly ahead of major decisions on foreign and security policy. The issues on which it deliberates are highly sensitive. Its 42 members take the lead role in deliberations on whether the German Federal Government should be allowed to deploy soldiers on missions abroad, among other matters.
