The
Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (in German called
Bundeskanzler(in), literally
"Federal Chancellor", or
Kanzler for short) is, under the German
1949 constitution, the
head of government of
Germany. It is historically a continuation of the office of Chancellor (German:
Kanzler, later
Reichskanzler, Chancellor of the Realm) that was originally established as the office of Chancellor of the
North German Confederation in 1867. The 1949 constitution increased the role of the Chancellor compared to the 1919
Weimar Constitution by making the Chancellor much more independent of the influence of the
Federal President and granting the Chancellor the right to set the guidelines for all policy areas, thus making him the real chief executive. The role is generally comparable to that of
Prime Minister in other parliamentary democracies.