History of Germany since 1990 Helmut Kohl was reelected as Chancellor for his fifth and last term. The ruling liberal-conservative coalition government, consisting of the CDU/CSU and the FDP, lost the German federal election, 1998, and Gerhard Schröder was elected as Chancellor, the head of a coalition government consisting of his own SPD party and The Greens. Joschka Fischer, a leading Green politician, became Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Shortly after the formation of the government, Minister of Finance Oskar Lafontaine, a former SPD chairman and rival of Schröder, resigned from the cabinet. He was succeeded as Minister of Finance by Hans Eichel. In 1998,
International Council of the United Methodist Church in Germany and Frankfurt. Pastors who have served these congregations (and their countries of origin) follow: International Council of the United Methodist Church in Germany The International Council of the United Methodist Church in Germany (Internationaler Ausschuss) grew out of a pilot project approved by the United Methodist General Conference in 1988. It involved cooperation of three general agencies of the church (Discipleship, Chaplaincy and Global Ministries) and the United Methodist Central Conference in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. Bishop Hermann Sticher DD was an initiator of the work. Bishop Dr. Walter Klaiber presided over most of its life.