Merz cabinet in the context of "Friedrich Merz"

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands [zoˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkʁaːtɪʃə paʁˌtaɪ ˈdɔʏtʃlants], SPD [ɛspeːˈdeː] ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Lars Klingbeil has been the party's leader since the 2021 SPD federal Party convention together with Bärbel Bas, who joined him in June 2025. After losing the 2025 federal election, the party is part of the Merz government as the junior coalition partner. The SPD is a member of 12 of the 16 German state governments and is a leading partner in seven of them.

The SPD was founded in 1875 from a merger of smaller socialist parties, and grew rapidly after the lifting of Germany's repressive Anti-Socialist Laws in 1890 to become the largest socialist party in Western Europe until 1933. In 1891, it adopted its Marxist-influenced Erfurt Program, though in practice it was moderate and focused on building working-class organizations. In the 1912 federal election, the SPD won 34.8 percent of votes and became the largest party in the Reichstag, but was still excluded from government. After the start of the First World War in 1914, the party split between a pro-war mainstream and the anti-war Independent Social Democratic Party, some members of which later formed the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The SPD played a leading role in the German revolution of 1918–1919 and in the foundation of the Weimar Republic. The SPD politician Friedrich Ebert served as the first president of Germany from 1919 to 1925.

Bärbel Bas (German: [ˈbɛʁbl̩ ˈbaːs]; born 3 May 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz since 2025. Also since 2025, she has been serving as one of two co-leaders of her party, alongside Lars Klingbeil.

Bas has been a member of the German Bundestag since the federal election in 2009. She served as the 14th president of the Bundestag from 2021 to 2025. She also served as the deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of chairman Rolf Mützenich from 2019 to 2021.

In German politics, a grand coalition (German: Große Koalition [ˈɡʁoːsə koaliˈt͡si̯oːn] , shortened to: German: Groko [ˈɡʁoːkoː] ) is a governing coalition between the two parties with the most parliamentarians on federal or state level. The term is generally linked to a coalition between the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance (Union, consisting of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) parties) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), since they have historically been the major parties in most state and federal elections since 1949. The meaning of the term changed due to the growth of some formerly minor parties in recent years. It is the current governing coalition of Germany under the Merz cabinet following the 2025 federal election, and marks the first time that one of the two parties does not have the most or second most seats in the Bundestag (the AfD won the second most seats). Therefore, the latest coalition between CDU/CSU and SPD is often instead described as a black-red coalition, referring to the respective colors of the two blocs. If the coalition also includes the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), it is called a "Germany coalition" (German: Deutschland-Koalition (de)), with the party colors matching the flag of Germany: black for CDU/CSU, red for SPD and yellow for FDP.

The Scholz cabinet (German: Kabinett Scholz, pronounced [kabiˈnɛt ʃɔlt͡s] ) was the 24th 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, and acted in a caretaker role until 6 May 2025. It was preceded by the Fourth Merkel cabinet and succeeded by the Merz cabinet. It was led by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the cabinet ultimately 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. 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.