The Third Merkel cabinet ( German: ''Kabinett Merkel III'') was the 23rd

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 ...

during the 18th 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 ...

. Installed after the 2013 federal election, it left office on 14 March 2018. It was preceded by the second Merkel cabinet and succeeded by the fourth Merkel cabinet. Led by Chancellor

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 government was supported by a coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD). Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) replaced Philipp Rösler (FDP) as Vice Chancellor of Germany and became Federal Minister for Economics and Energy. The CDU received five ministries in addition to the positions of Chancellor, as well as Chancellery Chief of Staff and Minister for Special Affairs. The SPD controlled six ministries and the CSU three. Although the CSU received a disproportionate share of ministries relative to its weight in the Bundestag, the six most powerful ministries were divided equally between the CDU and the SPD: the CDU controls the ministries for finance, internal affairs and defense, while the SPD controls the ministries for foreign affairs, economics and energy, as well as justice and consumer protection. The term of office of the third Merkel cabinet officially ended with the constitution of the 19th Bundestag on Tuesday, 24 October 2017. Merkel and her cabinet ministers received their discharge papers from the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the same day. In accordance with Article 69 of the German Constitution and at the request of the President of Germany, the cabinet remained in office as the caretaker government until a new government is formed. Bundesregierung (Tobias Koch)

Composition

Caretaker government following the 2017 election

After the German federal election held on Sunday, 24 September 2017, SPD leader Martin Schulz declared that the SPD had decided to be a part of the opposition during the next legislation period. However, after coalition talks between the Union ( CDU/CSU), FDP and the Greens failed, SPD politicians reconsidered, leading to coalition negotiations between the CDU/CSU and the SPD. On 8 February 2018, the negotiations resulted in a provisional agreement to form a grand coalition, which was approved by the party members of the SPD and led to the formation of the new government on 14 March 2018.

References

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External links

Cabinet of Germany
(English)

(English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabinet Merkel III Meklel III Merkel III 2013 establishments in Germany Merkel III Angela Merkel Grand coalition governments