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,
Vice-Chancellor of Germany Vice-Chancellor of Germany The Deputy to the Federal Chancellor (), widely known as the Vice Chancellor () of Germany is, according to protocol, the second highest position in the Cabinet of Germany. He is the equivalent of a deputy prime minister in other parliamentary systems. The 18th and current Vice Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic) is Olaf Scholz, who was appointed to the position on 14 March 2018 and also serves as the Federal Minister of Finance. As provided by the Basic Law (Constitution), Vice Chancellor is not an independent office, but a position held by one of the ministers.