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Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who had eventually consented to the idea of the memorial, vetoed the result of the first competition (Carrier 2005, 106, and passim). There followed more discussion, three colloquia, and a second competition with a new and smaller jury, and only a handful of artists were invited to participate. In 1996 the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) also discussed the issue, reconsidering questions already debated in the press: whether such a national memorial should be built at all, to whom it should be dedicated, and the form it should take. Finally, in 1999, after the new coalition government under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder took office, the Bundestag decided that Germany would erect the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. The Resolution stated:

 1.1 With the memorial we intend tohonor the murdered victims,keep alive the memory of these inconceivable events in German history,admonish all future generations never again to violate human rights, to defend the democratic constitutional state at all times, to secure equality before the law for all people and to resist all forms of dictatorship and regimes based on violence.

 1.2 The memorial will be a central monument and place of remembrance, connected to other memorial centers and institutions within and beyond Berlin. It cannot replace the historical sites of terror where atrocities were committed.

 1.3 The memorial will be erected at the designated site in the centre of Berlin the Ministry Gardens.

 1.4 The Federal Republic of Germany remains committed to commemorating and honoring the other victims of the Nazi regime.

 1.5 Peter Eisenman’s scheme for a field of stelae (Eisenman II) will be realised. Incorporated in the concept is an Information Centre referring to the commemorated victims and the historical sites of remembrance. (Deutscher Bundestag 1999)

For the implementation of the Bundestag decision, the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (foundation) was founded by law and established in April 2000. It was headed by the president of the Bundestag. The bidding process and construction work on the memorial were to be carried out and supervised by the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development. It soon became clear that the decision of the Bundestag was not the end of controversy. Not all issues had been clarified. While delays and problems caused by the construction of this complicated project could be overcome, one question could not be resolved easily because nobody at least not the Bundestag had discussed the issue in the first place: should certain companies, which had been in existence during the Nazi regime, actually be excluded from participating in the construction?