Fourth Merkel cabinet

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Fourth Merkel cabinet (Merkel IV)

The Fourth Merkel cabinet, also known as Kabinett Merkel IV, was Germany’s 23rd government. It served during the 19th Bundestag, from 14 March 2018 after the 2017 federal election, until 26 October 2021, with a caretaker period lasting until 8 December 2021. It followed the Merkel III cabinet and was succeeded by the Scholz cabinet.

Chancellor Angela Merkel led the government, with Olaf Scholz as Vice-Chancellor. The coalition was a grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The main opposition parties were AfD, FDP, The Left, and The Greens.

The cabinet began with 15 ministers (14 after 20 May 2021). The Head of the Chancellery acted as Minister for Special Affairs without a portfolio. The CDU held seven ministerial posts, the SPD six, and the CSU three. From 20 May 2021, one minister headed two departments.

A major early crisis occurred in June 2018 when Interior Minister Horst Seehofer of the CSU clashed with Merkel over asylum policy. Seehofer threatened to resign on 1 July 2018, but the parties reached an agreement on 2 July.

The 2017 election negotiations had left Merkel’s party in a prolonged caretaker role into 2018. After the 2021 elections, a new government was formed under Olaf Scholz, and Merkel remained in a caretaker role until 8 December 2021. By then she was nine days short of Helmut Kohl’s post-war record for the longest-serving German chancellor.