Germany is governed by a coalition of Angela Merkel's CDU, its sister party CSU, and the center-left SPD. Many want to rethink the relationship, but CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has rejected the idea.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
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Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has dismissed proposals to renegotiate the current government coalition contract.
"The coalition agreement stands and by no means will it be reopened to debate," she told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in a report published Sunday.
"At our party conference, we will make clear what our country should and will look like in the future," said Kramp-Karrenbauer, "and how we will set the right course, how we can best solve the problems of people in Germany."
Ministers under Merkel: Germany's new government
The conservative CDU and CSU formed a "grand coalition" government with the center-left SPD in March 2018. DW takes a look at who's who in Chancellor Angela Merkel's fourth Cabinet.
Image: picture alliance/SvenSimon/E. Kremser
Chancellor: Angela Merkel (CDU)
Christian Democrat (CDU) Angela Merkel is Germany's chancellor. She is in her fourth term as leader of the German government and in her third at the head of a "grand coalition" between the CDU, its conservative Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD). Merkel says she will not run for chancellor at the next general election in 2021.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Minister of the Interior, Heimat and Construction: Horst Seehofer (CSU)
Seehofer was Bavaria's state premier until he took over the interior portfolio in Merkel's Cabinet. This will be the first time that the vaguely patriotic "Heimat" concept (roughly "homeland") is included in the interior minister's domain. Bavaria, however, has had a state Heimat Ministry for five years. Seehofer remains head of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria.
Image: Reuters/M. Rehle
Minister for Foreign Affairs: Heiko Maas (SPD)
Former Justice Minister Heiko Maas succeeded his Social Democrat colleague, Sigmar Gabriel, as foreign minister in March. Maas was in charge of the Justice Ministry when the government passed a controversial internet law to combat hate speech online.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
Finance Minister: Olaf Scholz (SPD)
Scholz served as mayor of Hamburg before moving to Berlin to take the reins at the Finance Ministry. The Finance Ministry's capture was a significant win for the SPD. Scholz will also serve as vice-chancellor. He had been in Merkel's Cabinet once before, as minister of labor and social affairs from 2007 to 2009.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Sabrowsky
Minister of Defense: Ursula von der Leyen (CDU)
Von der Leyen has been defense minister since 2013 and kept her job in the new government. This comes despite numerous scandals within the Bundeswehr, Germany's military, that broke since she took over the Defense Ministry. Her relationship with the troops suffered, but Merkel trusts her.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Lübke
Economic and Energy Affairs Minister: Peter Altmaier (CDU)
Altmaier was Merkel's chief of staff at the Chancellery before his nomination to take over the Economy Ministry. The last time a CDU politician was in the post was half a century before. Altmaier is regarded as extremely loyal to the chancellor.
Image: Getty Images/M. Tantussi
Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection: Katarina Barley (SPD)
Katarina Barley took over as justice minister after serving as both minister of family affairs and labor in the previous government. The 49-year-old is a lawyer by training and holds both British and German citizenship.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs: Hubertus Heil (SPD)
Hubertus Heil succeeded Andrea Nahles, who stepped down to take over as head of the SPD. A member of the Bundestag since 1998, Heil has twice served as the party's secretary general.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Minister for the Environment: Svenja Schulze (SPD)
Svenja Schulze replaced party colleague Barbara Hendricks, Germany's former minister for the environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety, in March. Schulze previously served as minister for innovation, science and research in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R.Vennenbernd
Minister for Health: Jens Spahn (CDU)
Jens Spahn, 37, is representative of a new political generation within the CDU and seen as a future contender for party leadership. In the last government, he served as the parliamentary state secretary in the Finance Ministry. Prior to that, he helped lead the CDU's health policy in the Bundestag.
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Minister of Education and Research: Anja Karliczek (CDU)
Anja Karliczek, a former hotel manager who is relatively unknown, was nominated by Merkel to take over the Education Ministry. She had a lot of money to spend: The ministry's budget was increased by €11 billion ($13.6 billion) to pay for school and university improvements shortly before her appointment.
Image: imago/M. Popow
Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth: Franziska Giffey (SPD)
Franziska Giffey's elevation from the mayor of Berlin's Neukölln district to cabinet minister was perhaps one of the most eye-catching appointments. Giffey bypassed the Bundestag altogether to ascend into government. But the SPD leadership believed her experience in charge of what has often been described as Berlin's "troubled" district made her the most suitable candidate for the role.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Gambarini
Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development: Gerd Müller (CSU)
Gerd Müller, 62, retained his post as development minister, which he has held since December 2013. He won the job over fellow CSU member Dorothee Bär, who was also in the running. Bär became the state minister for digital affairs in the chancellery, a newly created job.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Nietfeld
Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure: Andreas Scheuer (CSU)
Scheuer, considered a close ally of CSU party head Seehofer, took over the Transport Ministry from party colleague Alexander Dobrindt. He is experienced in the field: From 2009 to 2013, he was parliamentary state secretary in the Transport Ministry. Prior to his latest appointment, he was the CSU's secretary general.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Minister for Food and Agriculture: Julia Klöckner (CDU)
Klöckner previously worked as parliamentary state secretary in the Agriculture Ministry from 2009 to 2011. Between her ministerial stints in Berlin, she was deputy chair of the CDU and headed the CDU in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Image: imago/Future Image/J.xKrickx
Chief of Staff at the Chancellery: Helge Braun (CDU)
Helge Braun took over from CDU colleague Peter Altmaier as Chancellery head in March. He had previously served in deputy positions in the Chancellery and Education Ministry.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler
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Voices of dissent
In a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper on Friday, the leader of the conservatives' pro-business wing, Carsten Linnemann, called for discussions between Germany's conservative alliance — made up of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) — and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) to be reopened in December.
The parties need to "sit together, rework the coalition agreement, and decide how they can bring the country forward," he said, adding that it was "nonsense, in these fast-paced times, to negotiate an agreement for the next four years."
CSU General Secretary Markus Blume echoed Linnemann's sentiments. In light of the fundamentally changed economic and political environment, "we need an update for the GroKo, with new ideas, new agreements and with a new spirit," Blume told FAZ.
Points to be reconsidered included, among others, the conservative party's recommendation that Germany reinstate a year of obligatory public service for all high school graduates.
The idea found support with other politicians, including Saskia Esken, one of the candidates to take over the SPD.
'No reason to leave the government'
But many also opposed the move to reopen negotiations.
"We have a coalition agreement. Now we'll execute it," CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak told reporters, adding that the administration would react to any new developments.
The premier of the German state of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, said that a majority of SPD members "see no reason to leave the government."
"I feel like a part of this majority," the told the DPA news agency.
Conservative party members will gather next week in Leipzig for their annual conference. The SPD is set to meet a week later. Both parties will vote on the future of the alliance.
