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 **Ger ...

: ''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 ...

of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south ...

from 22 November 2005 to 27 October 2009 throughout the 16th legislative session of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the German Federalism, 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 Representat ...

. 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 Op ...

, the first female

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

in German history, the cabinet was supported by a

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there ar ...

between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...

(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 The Second Schröder cabinet ( German: ''Kabinett Schröder II'') was the 19th Government of Federal Republic of Germany in office from 22 October 2002 until 22 November 2005. It succeeded the First Schröder cabinet formed after the 2002 el ...

. 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 Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

(FDP) nor the ruling SPD and

Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

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

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 The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the ...

on 22 November 2005 by 397 votes to 202. From that date the cabinet was officially in power.

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

Composition

Formation of the grand coalition

See also

References

External links