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East Germany Central Committee
The Central Committee of the SED is designated by party
statute as the highest executive organ of the party and is
responsible for carrying out the decisions of the party congress.
When the New Economic System was launched in the 1960s, the
Central Committee changed from being a purely acclamatory and
declamatory assembly to one increasingly involved in the
substantive matters of party organizations and policies
(see Economic Policy and Performance
, ch. 3).
Although the Central Committee performs a variety of
important functions, its most important responsibility consists
of bringing together diverse points of view, which contributes to
the formulation of short- and long-term SED policies. This role
is particularly important in the area of economic planning and
administration, which remains a key policy area. In this respect,
the Central Committee provides a sounding board for positions
that the Politburo subsequently takes on various issues. During
its plenary sessions, usually between two to four per year, the
Central Committee routinely examines the work of the Politburo
and Secretariat, and individual committee members evaluate
Politburo reports that fall within their areas of expertise. Both
the Politburo reports and the policy discussion papers presented
at the party plenums are important to the functions of the
Central Committee; they present guidelines for running the
government and party apparatus. On occasion the Politburo directs
the Central Committee to create special commissions, composed of
members of the Council of Ministers and the Presidium, which are
tasked with exploring areas of topical interest to the Politburo
or the Secretariat.
Data as of July 1987
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