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,
Chancellor of Germany DDR)". (See Leaders of East Germany.) The head of the federal government of the North German Confederation, which was created on 1 July 1867, had the title "Bundeskanzler". The only person to hold the office was Otto von Bismarck, the prime minister of Prussia. The king, being the bearer of the "Bundespräsidium", installed him on 14 July. Under the constitution of 1 January 1871, the king had additionally the title of Emperor. The constitution still called the chancellor "Bundeskanzler". This was only changed in the new constitution of 16 April 1871 to "Reichskanzler". The office remained the same, and Bismarck