The German Bundestag will hold a session on September 24, 2026, to review two different proposals regarding organ donation. The aim of these proposals is to increase the number of donated organs for life-saving transplant surgeries.
Two different proposals
The first proposal refers to maintaining the current organ donation system, in which individuals must actively express their consent to donate. Supporters of this proposal believe that the shortage of donated organs can be compensated by conducting campaigns to encourage adults to participate and facilitating the registration process for organ donation.
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The second proposal suggests an opt-out system for organ donation. According to this proposal, organs will be taken from individuals who have not explicitly opposed donation after their death. Supporters of this proposal argue that although most people in Germany are willing to donate, only a few register this willingness. They also refer to statistics from countries that use the opt-out system, which show that these countries have higher donation rates, and Germany is lagging behind in international comparisons.
Current status in the Bundestag
Currently, 254 out of 630 Bundestag representatives support the opt-out proposal, while 58 support the first proposal to maintain the current national system. The last time the Bundestag voted on this issue was in 2020, when the majority voted positively for the opt-out model, although at that time, the opt-out proposal had more signatures.
Countries like France, Spain, and the Netherlands are among those that have implemented opt-out models in their systems. Given the high importance of this issue, representatives will also review government proposals to enhance the capabilities of national intelligence agencies to address existing security threats.
Additionally, the University of Munich is set to establish a faculty of Islamic theology, which will be the first in the country and equivalent to the faculties of Catholic and Protestant theology. These developments come as positive news about Germany's economic growth is also emerging, which is expected to be twice as much as previous forecasts.
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