Scholz cabinet

Scholz cabinet
24th Cabinet of the Federal Republic of Germany
8 December 2021 (from 25 March 2025 as caretaker government)
Signing of the coalition agreement on 7 December 2021
Date formed	8 December 2021 3 years, 132 days in office
People and organisations
President	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Chancellor	Olaf Scholz
Vice Chancellor	Robert Habeck
Member parties	Social Democratic Party   Alliance 90/The Greens   Free Democratic Party (2021–2024)   Independent (Volker Wissing, from 2024)
Status in legislature	Traffic light coalition (Majority) (2021–2024) 415 / 735 (56%) Red–green coalition (Minority) (2024–2025) 325 / 733 (44%)
Opposition parties	Christian Democratic Union   Christian Social Union   Free Democratic Party (from 2024)   Alternative for Germany   The Left   Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (from 2024)   South Schleswig Voters' Association
Opposition leader	Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) (2021–2022) Friedrich Merz (CDU) (from 2022)
History
Election	2021 federal election
Legislature terms	20th Bundestag
Predecessor	Merkel IV
Successor	Merz (Approval of the coalition parties and Chancellor election expected on 6 May 2025)

The Scholz cabinet (German: Kabinett Scholz, pronounced [kabiˈnɛt ʃɔlt͡s] ^ⓘ) is the 24th and current Government of the Federal Republic of Germany during the 20th legislative session of the Bundestag. It was sworn in on 8 December 2021 following the 2021 federal election and dismissed on 25 March 2025, acting in a caretaker since. It was preceded by the Fourth Merkel cabinet and will likely be succeded by the Merz cabinet. It is led by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the cabinet is composed of Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Alliance 90/The Greens.

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) was a member of the cabinet until 7 November 2024 when the three-way coalition collapsed through Scholz's dismissal of FDP Finance Minister Christian Lindner. Scholz announced pursuing a snap election to be held in early 2025.^[1][2] On 16 December 2024, Scholz lost a vote of no confidence. On the same day, he requested the President of Germany to dissolve the Bundestag. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier granted the request and called new elections for 23 February 2025.

The coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP was an arrangement known as a "traffic light coalition" in German politics after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, yellow and green, matching the colours of a traffic light (Ampel). This traffic light coalition-government was the first of its kind at the federal level in the history of the German federal republic.

In 2023, a mid-term review of the coalition agreement's implementation found that compared to the preceding grand coalition (Merkel IV), the traffic light government had achieved 38 instead of 53 per cent of its coalition promises, which is proportionally less, but with 174 instead of 154 fulfilled promises; it had actually achieved somewhat more in absolute terms. This applies to the government's major reform projects as well as to smaller government projects.^[3]