The First Merkel cabinet (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
: ''Kabinett Merkel I'') was the
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
of the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
from 22 November 2005 to 27 October 2009 throughout the
16th legislative session of the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
. Led by Christian Democrat
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
, the first female
Chancellor in German history, the cabinet was supported by a
grand coalition between the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU),
Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) and the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(SPD).
It was installed following the
2005 federal election and succeeded the
second Schröder cabinet.
It ceased to function after the formation of
second Merkel cabinet
The Second Merkel cabinet (German: ''Kabinett Merkel II'') was the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany during the 17th legislative session of the Bundestag. Installed after the 2009 federal election, it left office on 17 December 2013 ...
, which was installed after the
2009 federal elections and sworn in on 28 October 2009.
Composition
The federal cabinet consisted of the following ministers:
Formation of the grand coalition
Neither the coalitions of the CDU/CSU and the
Free Democratic Party (FDP) nor the ruling SPD and
Alliance '90/The Greens had the vote of a majority of members of the ''Bundestag'' following the
2005 federal election, so the CDU/CSU and SPD decided to form the second
grand coalition in the history of the federal republic.
Both CDU/CSU and SPD achieved a similar percentage of votes at the election (35.2% and 34.2%, respectively), so they decided that each would receive eight cabinet seats (with six for the CDU and two for the CSU). On 13 October the SPD announced their future ministers and on 17 October the CDU/CSU announced theirs.
Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he r ...
of the CSU was to become the
Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, but refused the post on 1 November after a conflict with Angela Merkel over the abilities of the minister to succeed him, and chose to continue his state-level role in Bavaria.
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 12, 13, and 14 November.
Angela Merkel was elected
Chancellor of Germany on 22 November 2005 by 397 votes to 202. From that date the cabinet was officially in power.
See also
*
Cabinet of Germany
References
External links
Official English names of German ministers and ministries (German Foreign Office)* , the agreement of the coalition of 12 November 2005 between the CDU, CSU and SPD.
* , from the SPD official website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabinet Merkel I
Merkel I
Merkel I
2005 establishments in Germany
2009 disestablishments in Germany
Cabinets established in 2005
Cabinets disestablished in 2009
Angela Merkel
Grand coalition governments