Cabinet of Angela Merkel

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The cabinet of Angela Merkel is the current government of Germany since November 22, 2005, during the 16th legislature of the Bundestag. Led by the Christian-democrat Angela Merkel (the first female chancellor in German history), it is supported by a grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). It followed the Cabinet Schröder II.

Contents 1 Composition 2 Formation of the Grand Coalition 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Composition

The current federal cabinet (as of May 31, 2009), consists of the following Ministers:

Office	Incumbent	Since	Party
Chancellor	Dr. Angela Merkel	November 22, 2005	CDU
Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs	Franz Müntefering until November 21, 2007 Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier	November 21, 2007	SPD
Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs	Franz Müntefering until November 21, 2007 Olaf Scholz	November 21, 2007	SPD
Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety	Sigmar Gabriel	November 22, 2005	SPD
Federal Minister of Economics and Technology	Michael Glos until February 10, 2009 Dr. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg	February 10, 2009	CSU
Federal Minister of Defence	Dr. Franz Josef Jung	November 22, 2005	CDU
Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth	Dr. Ursula von der Leyen	November 22, 2005	CDU
Federal Minister for Special Tasks and Head of the Chancellery	Dr. Thomas de Maizière	November 22, 2005	CDU
Federal Minister of the Interior	Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble	November 22, 2005	CDU
Federal Minister of Education and Research	Dr. Annette Schavan	November 22, 2005	CDU
Federal Minister of Health	Ulla Schmidt	January 12, 2001	SPD
Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection	Horst Seehofer until October 31, 2008 Ilse Aigner	October 31, 2008	CSU
Federal Minister of Finance	Peer Steinbrück	November 22, 2005	SPD
Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs	Wolfgang Tiefensee	November 22, 2005	SPD
Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development	Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul	October 27, 1998	SPD
Federal Minister of Justice	Brigitte Zypries	October 22, 2002	SPD

[edit] Formation of the Grand Coalition

Neither the coalitions of the CDU/CSU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) nor the SPD and Alliance '90/The Greens had the vote of a majority of members of the Bundestag following the 2005 federal election, so they decided to form the second grand coalition in the history of the federal republic.

The two groups, the CDU/CSU and SPD, received nearly the same vote in the election (35.2% and 34.2%), so they decided that they would receive the same number of posts in the cabinet, eight (with six for the CDU and two for the CSU). On October 13, the SPD announced their future ministers, and on October 17, the CDU/CSU announced theirs.

Edmund Stoiber (CSU) was to become the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, but refused the post on November 1, followed by a conflict with Angela Merkel over the abilities of the minister to succeed him.

The coalition agreement (Koalitionsvertrag), titled Together for Germany. With courage and humanity, was signed and accepted by the congress of the CDU, CSU, and SPD on November 12, 13, and 14. Angela Merkel was elected Chancellor of Germany on November 22 by 397 votes against 217. From that date the cabinet was officially in power.

[edit] See also

• Cabinet of Germany

[edit] External links

• Official English names of German ministers and ministries (German Foreign Office)
• (German) Gemeinsam für Deutschland. Mit Mut und MenschlichkeitPDF (659 KiB), the agreement of the coalition of November 12, 2005 between the CDU, SPD, and CSU.
• English translation of the coalition agreementPDF (541 KiB) , from the SPD official website.
• Quiz on the Cabinet of 2005