Ways to Contact Parliament
Your leaders always are eager to hear from you and other of their constituents! After all, you and your fellow constituents are the people who vote them into power, and can vote out of power. Nevertheless, most people don’t know the various ways in which they can contact their leaders. This page touches on some of the most common ways. Make sure to remain professional and respectful in all of your communications with your leaders and their offices, no matter which avenue of communication you are using.
Though many of the training materials are in English, most leaders only accept communications in German, so make sure to use German when communicating.
On the right-hand side of your member of the Bundestag’s official profile, there is a link to their „Homepage” profile. Click that link to be taken to their own, individual website. On their website, there is usually a page with information on contacting them. This usually includes their official email address. From there, you can just send them an email at any time.
For members of the Bundesrat, their email address is typically listed at the bottom of their Bundesrat official profile. Like with members of the Bundestag, you can just send them an email at any time.
While not a formal letter, make sure to include your address at the bottom of your email. This allows the leaders to verify that you are one of their constituents.
Email is the method of contact that you will be asked to do most frequently during your time with The Borgen Project.
Phone Call
A simple and quick way to also contact your leaders is by making a phone call to their office. Similar to finding their email address, for members of the Bundestag, you have to find their individual website, and then find the page with information on contacting them. On that page, it usually has two office phone numbers, one for their Berlin office and one for their constituency office.
Also similar to finding emails, members of the Bundesrat typically have their office phone number listed at the bottom of their official profile.
Typically, it’s an intern or a less senior staffer who answers the call. Questions from the staffer answering the call, beyond just asking for your address (to confirm you are a constituent) or a call-back number, aren’t common. However, if they do ask an in-depth question and you’re unsure of the answer, just tell them you’ll need to look into it and get back to them, ask them for a good way to reach them, and then seek assistance from your manager.
Letter
Letter writing is one of the oldest ways of contacting and communicating with MPs, and remains a heavily impactful way. It is even more impactful and effective when handwritten rather than typed, as it adds a personal touch to the letter.
For members of the Bundestag, the best postal address for your leaders is typically their Berlin address. If your leaders are not in Berlin, the post is automatically forwarded on to them. For members of the Bundesrat, the best address is typically within their home state. Their office addresses can be found on their official Bundestag and Bundesrat profiles.
Read more about writing letters to your leaders here.
Tweet
The age of social media has brought another way to quickly contact your leaders and get their attention. Most leaders are on Twitter, and just a small Tweet directed to your leaders to ask for support on a bill/issue can make them aware that you care and that they should take action. What’s nice about tweeting is that it is simple too and can be done on-the-go! While you shouldn’t put your address or postal code in your tweet, it is best to mention your city/town, as that will indicate to your leaders that you are one of their constituents.
Read more about using social media to contact your leaders here.
