It is the entity which determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation.
The council also serves as an important forum for interparty negotiations on specific legislation and procedural issues.
The number, size of committees, as well as the system used to determine their composition, which is proportional to the relative strengths of the parliamentary groups, are decided ultimately by the Bundestag.
While the parliament is in session, the Council of Elders convene weekly at meetings chaired by the President of the Bundestag.
This process, known as the d'Hondt method, was also used to calculate the outcome of federal elections until the Bundestag's tenth term in 1983.