# Chancellor of Germany

The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the federal president and without debate (Article 63 of the German Constitution). During a state of defence declared by the Bundestag the chancellor also assumes the position of commander-in-chief of the Bundeswehr.
Thirty-six people (thirty-five men and one woman) have served as chancellor, the first of whom was Otto von Bismarck taking over on 21 March 1871. The current officeholder is Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party, who was elected in December 2021, succeeding Angela Merkel. He was elected after the SPD entered into a coalition agreement with Alliance 90/The Greens and the FDP.

## History of the office (pre-1949)

The office of chancellor has a long history, stemming back to the Holy Roman Empire (c. 900–1806), when the office of German arch chancellor was usually held by the Roman Catholic archbishops of Mainz. The title was, at times, used in several states of German-speaking Central Europe. The modern office of chancellor was established with the beginning of the North German Confederation in 1867, after the Prussian Army's decisive military victory in the brief Austro-Prussian War of 1866 over the rival Austrian Empire. The office began with the Confederation under which its prime creator / instigator Otto von Bismarck, (previously foreign minister, then chancellor of the Kingdom of Prussia since 1862), became Bundeskanzler (meaning "Federal Chancellor") in 1867. With the enlargement of this short-lived federal state to the newly unified and established German Empire in 1871, the title was renamed to Reichskanzler (meaning "Imperial Chancellor"). 78 years later after the 1945 defeat in World War II, with the new reorganized Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)'s Basic Law (constitution) of 1949, the title of Bundeskanzler - "Federal Chancellor" was revived, continuing to the present after 1992 with the Reunification of Germany following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and a newly expanded Federal Republic of Germany.
Due to his administrative tasks, the head of the clerics at the chapel of an Kaiserpfalz during the Carolingian Empire (AD 800–887), beginning with first the king of the Franks, Charlemagne, was also called chancellor (from Latin: cancellarius). The chapel's college acted as the emperor's chancery issuing deeds and capitularies. From the days of Louis the German, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Mainz was ex officio German archchancellor, a position he held until the end of the 900 year old Holy Roman Empire decreed by Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars in 1806; de jure. the archbishop of Cologne was chancellor of Italy and the archbishop of Trier of Burgundy. These three prince-archbishops were also prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire electing the King of the Romans. Already in mediaeval times, the German chancellor had political power like Archbishop Willigis (archchancellor 975–1011, regent for King Otto III (AD 991–994) or Rainald von Dassel (chancellor, 1156–1162 and 1166–1167), under Holy Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
In 1559, Emperor Ferdinand I established the agency of an imperial chancellery (Reichshofkanzlei) at the Vienna's Hofburg Palace, headed by a vice chancellor under the nominal authority of the Mainz archbishop. Upon the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, Emperor Ferdinand II created the office of an Archduchy of Austria court chancellor in charge of the internal and foreign affairs of the ruling dynasty of the Habsburg monarchy. From 1753 onwards, the office of an Austrian state chancellor was held by Prince Kaunitz. The imperial chancellery lost its importance, and from the days of Queen Maria Theresa and Holy Roman emperor Joseph II, merely existed on paper. After the 1806 dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon, Prince Klemens von Metternich served as state chancellor of the German-speaking Austrian Empire, likewise Prince Karl August von Hardenberg acted as Kingdom of Prussia's chancellor (1810–1822). The German Confederation of 1815–1866, organized after the Napoleonic Wars and the peace-making Congress of Vienna did not have a government or parliament, only the single-chamber legislature Bundestag as representative organ of the various German states in the 51 year old Confederation.
The role of the chancellor has varied during the different eras. From 1867 to 1918, the chancellor was the only responsible minister at the federal level. He was appointed by the Bundespräsidium, (i.e. the Prussian king; since 1871 called German Emperor). The state secretaries (Staatssekretäre) were civil servants subordinate to the chancellor and similar to ministers. Besides his executive duties, the constitution gave the chancellor only one function: presiding over the German Empire's upper legislative chamber of the Bundesrat (Federal Council), the representative organ of the various German states (which together with the Reichstag was the Reich's lower legislative chamber and major lawmaking body). The chancellor was also nearly always Minister President of Prussia, which was the largest and dominant state in the Empire. Indirectly, this gave him the power of the Bundesrat, including to dissolve the houses of parliament and call for elections.
Although effective government was possible only in cooperation with the Reichstag, the results of the elections had at most an indirect influence on the chancellorship. Only by October 1918 on the verge of disastrous defeat in the First World War, was the Empire's 1871 constitution changed and reformed after 47 years, to require that the chancellor have the trust / confidence of parliament (as in the British Parliament and other European parliamentary democracies). Some two weeks later, Chancellor Max von Baden declared the abdication of the emperor / kaiser Wilhelm II of the Hohenzollern dynasty, who then left Germany with his family for exile in the neighboring Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although he lacked the constitutional authority, the last imperial chancellor handed over his office to Friedrich Ebert, (leader of the anti-war Social Democratic Party who the next day became co-chairman of the temporary revolutionary Council of the People's Deputies, to attempt to govern Germany in the crisis aftermath of the war reversals and seek an armistice / peace with the attacking / invading Allies of World War I, which was attained in the Armistice of 11 November 1918 on the Western Front in occupied northern France and Belgium.
Following the defeat of the 1918 German Empire in the First World War, a new post-war democratic republic government was set up for the German people by the popularly elected Weimar National Assembly, which met in the historic town of Weimar in 1919/20. According to the Weimar Constitution for the First German Republic (a.k.a. "Weimar Republic", 1919-1933), the chancellor was head of a collegial democratic government. The chancellor was appointed by the new President of Germany (Reich President), as were the subordinate ministers of various portfolios (departments / agencies) on the chancellor's recommendation. The chancellor or any minister had to be dismissed if the lower chamber of the Reichstag legislative assembly (continuing its old name of the previous century of the Reichstag) demanded it. As today, the chancellor had the prerogative to determine the guidelines of government. In reality this power was limited by the needs of coalition governments of the several major political parties (and numerous smaller minor ones) plus the powers of the Reich President in this early 20th century created version of a European German democratic republic and political system.
On 30 January 1933, when the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler came to power after receiving a plurality in the parliamentary elections, the Reich President was forced to ask Adolf Hitler to become Chancellor of Germany. Subsequently, the 1919 Weimar Constitution was de facto set aside. After the death of elderly German Reich President Paul von Hindenburg the following year in 1934, Adolf Hitler, the dictatorial party leader, also then took over the powers of the president. The new official title became Führer und Reichskanzler (meaning "Leader and Chancellor of the Reich").
The 1949 constitution gave the chancellor much greater powers than during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s and early 1930s, while strongly diminishing the role of the federal president. Germany is today often referred to as a "chancellor democracy", reflecting the role of the chancellor as the country's chief executive.
Since 1867, 33 people have served as heads of government of the German Empire, First German Republic (Weimar Republic), National Socialist Germany (Nazi Germany), Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) / German Democratic Republic (East Germany) or the earlier North German Confederation of 1867–1871, then the current reunified, revived and expanded Federal Republic of Germany - nearly all of them with the title of Chancellor as the elected head of government.
In the now-defunct communist East Germany, which also existed in a parallel life, first occupied in the eastern Soviet Zone (including a similar wedge of the former German capital of Berlin after World War II by the Red Army of the Soviet Union, which dominated East Germany from 7 October 1949 to 3 October 1990 (when the territory of the former GDR was reunified with the western Federal Republic of Germany), the position of chancellor did not exist. The equivalent position of head of government there was called either Minister President (Ministerpräsident) or the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR (Vorsitzender des Ministerrats der DDR), which was the second powerful position under General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (See Leaders of East Germany).

### Federal Chancellor of the North German Confederation (1867–1870)

The head of the loose federal government of the brief North German Confederation, which was created on 1 July 1867, had the title Bundeskanzler. The only person to hold the office for those three years was Otto von Bismarck, the serving minister president of the Kingdom of Prussia. Chancellor Bismarck served under the king of Prussia of the Hohenzollern royal dynasty, then William I, holder of the Bundespräsidium, appointed him on 14 July 1867.
Under the German Empire's constitution of 1 January 1871, the king had the additional title of Emperor. The constitution still called the chancellor,Bundeskanzler. This was changed a few months later in the new revised constitution of 16 April 1871 to Reichskanzler. Since the office remained the same, it was not necessary for Bismarck to be re-appointed.

### Chancellor of the German Reich
#### German Empire (Second Reich, 1871–1918)

In the German Empire, the Reichskanzler ("Imperial Chancellor") served both as the emperor's first minister and as presiding officer of the Bundesrat, the upper chamber of the German parliament. He was neither elected by nor responsible to parliament (the Reichstag). Instead, the chancellor was appointed by the emperor.
The federal level had four organs:
* the king of Prussia in his federal constitutional role as bearer of the Bundespräsidium, since 1871 with the title of emperor
* the federal council - upper chamber (Bundesrat), consisting of representatives of the federal states (kingdoms, duchies, principalities, free cities, etc.) and presided over by the chancellor
* the parliament, lower chamber called der Reichstag
* the federal executive, first led by Otto von Bismarck, the Minister President of Prussia, as chancellor.
Technically, the foreign ministers of the empire's states instructed their states' deputies to the Bundesrat and therefore outranked the chancellor. For this reason, Prince Bismarck (as he was from 1871 onwards) continued to serve as both minister president and foreign minister of the Kingdom of Prussia for virtually his entire tenure as chancellor of the empire (1871–1890), since he wanted to continue to exercise the power. Because Prussia controlled seventeen votes in the Bundesrat, Bismarck could effectively control the proceedings by making deals with the smaller states.
The term chancellor signalled the seemingly low priority of this institution compared to the governments of the German states, because the new chancellor of the federal empire should not be a full-fledged prime minister, in contrast to the heads of the states. The title of chancellor additionally symbolized a strong monarchist, bureaucratic, and ultimately antiparliamentary component, as in the Prussian tradition of, for instance, Hardenberg.
In both of these aspects, the executive of the earlier confederation, and then empire, as it was formed in 1867 and 1871, was deliberately different from the previous Imperial Ministry of the German revolutionary years of 1848–1849, which had been led by a prime minister elected by the National Assembly.
In 1871, the concept of the federal chancellor was transferred to the executive of the newly formed German Empire, which now also contained the several South German states. Here too, the terms of "chancellor" and "federal agency" (as opposed to "ministry" or "government") suggested an (apparent) lower priority of the federal executive as compared to the governments of the federal states. For this reason, neither the chancellor nor the leaders of the imperial departments under his command used the title of Minister until 1918.
The constitution of the German Empire was reformed / altered on 29 October 1918, when the parliament Reichstag and Bundesrat was given the right to dismiss the chancellor. However, the change could not prevent the outbreak of revolution a few days later.

#### Revolutionary period (1918–1919)

On 9 November 1918, imperial chancellor Prince Maximilian of Baden, handed over his office of chancellor to Friedrich Ebert. Ebert continued to serve as head of government during the three months between the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the end of the German Empire in November 1918, the beginning of the November 11, 1918 Armistice, and the first gathering behind the Western Front battle lines and trenches of the new National Assembly of the German Republic (Weimar Republic) several months later in the town of Weimar, in February 1919, but Ebert did not then use the title of chancellor.
During that time, Ebert also served as chairman of the "Council of the People's Deputies", until a month and half later on 29 December 1918 together with the allied Independent Social Democrat party leader Hugo Haase, who unfortunately died later that next year in November 1919.

#### First German Republic (Weimar Republic, 1919–1933)

The office of chancellor (Reichskanzler) was continued in the Weimar Republic. The Weimar Constitution provided for a two-part executive consisting of a Reich president and a government made up of Reich ministers and a Reich chancellor (Article 52) who determined the guidelines of the government's policy (Article 56).
The constitution stipulated that the president appoint and dismiss the chancellor and ministers. The ministers were appointed by the president on the recommendation of the chancellor (Article 53), and members of the government required the confidence of the Reichstag (Article 54). The provisions gave rise to the question of who in fact was responsible for forming the government.
Constitutional law expert Ernst Rudolf Huber said that the constitution had tacitly assumed that the president would have discussions with party leaders in the Reichstag before he made ministerial appointments. Based on these talks, the president would get a sense of which potential chancellor would be able to build a stable majority in the Reichstag. According to the sense of the Weimar Constitution, the president was thus to have the initiative. The task of putting together the Reich government was nevertheless the responsibility of the chancellor. The president could not appoint anyone as minister whom the chancellor had not proposed.
The chancellor alone had to answer to the Reichstag and the president for the policy guidelines, and he determined whether the conduct of business by the individual Reich ministries conformed to the guidelines. The government's decisions required a majority vote of the ministers, who sitting together were known as the National Ministry (Article 58). The chancellor could therefore be outvoted, as could a department minister. The chancellor presided over the government, and he had to conduct business in accordance with given rules of procedure.
In practice the Reich chancellor's power to determine political guidelines was limited by his own party as well as the other parties in the governing coalition. The Weimar chancellors were accordingly men whose strength lay in mediation rather than political initiative. Constitutionally, there was also the fact that the president had certain special rights. The actions of the president required the countersignature of the chancellor or the minister or ministers concerned, but the president always had to be informed about matters of foreign and defence policy.
The Reichstag could call for the dismissal of any member of the government, including the chancellor. Under Articles 54 and 59, the Reichstag could also impeach the chancellor as well as the ministers and the president before the State Court for the German Reich (Staatsgerichtshof für das Deutsche Reich), the Weimar Republic's constitutional court.

#### Nazi Germany (1933–1945)

Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933 by Paul von Hindenburg. On taking office, Hitler immediately began accumulating power and changing the nature of the chancellorship. After only two months in office, and following the burning of the Reichstag building, the parliament passed the Enabling Act giving the chancellor full legislative powers for a period of four years – the chancellor could introduce any law without consulting parliament. The powers of the chancellor continued to grow until August 1934, when Hindenburg died. Hitler used the Enabling Act to merge the office of chancellor with that of the president to create a new office, "the leader" (or Führer).
Although the offices were merged, Hitler continued to be addressed as "Führer und Reichskanzler" indicating that the head of state and head of government were still separate positions, albeit held by the same person, although the title of "Reichskanzler" was quietly dropped. This separation was made more evident when, in April 1945, Hitler gave instruction that upon his death, the office of the Führer would dissolve and be replaced by the previous system of administration: that of the office of the president separate from that of chancellor. On 30 April 1945, when Hitler committed suicide, he was briefly succeeded as Chancellor by Joseph Goebbels and as President of Germany by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz. When Goebbels also committed suicide, Dönitz appointed Count Schwerin von Krosigk as head of government with the title "Leading Minister".

## Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (1949–present)

The 1949 German constitution, the Basic Law (Grundgesetz), invests the chancellor (German, Bundeskanzler) with broad powers to initiate government policy. For that reason, some observers refer to the German political system as a "chancellor democracy". Even though the office of chancellor is often considered the most powerful in the German political system and is seen as such within the German public, it is only the third highest office, following the head of state (the president of Germany) and the president of the Bundestag, a position similar to the speaker of the federal parliament.
Whichever major party (CDU/CSU or SPD) does not hold the chancellorship usually calls its leading candidate for the federal election "chancellor-candidate" (Kanzlerkandidat). The federal government (Bundesregierung) consists of the chancellor and cabinet ministers.

### Role

The chancellor's authority emanates from the provisions of the Basic Law and in practice from their status as leader of the party (or coalition of parties) holding a majority of seats in the Bundestag (federal parliament). With the exception of Helmut Schmidt and Olaf Scholz, the chancellor has also been chairman of their own party. This was the case with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder from 1999 until he resigned the chairmanship of the SPD in 2004.
The first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, set many precedents that continue today and established the chancellorship as the clear focus of power in Germany. Under the provisions of the Basic Law giving him the power to set guidelines for all fields of policy, Adenauer arrogated nearly all major decisions to himself. He often treated his ministers as mere extensions of his authority rather than colleagues. While his successors have tended to be less domineering, the chancellor has acquired enough ex officio authority (in addition to their constitutional powers) that Germany is often described by constitutional law experts as a "chancellor democracy".
The chancellor determines the composition of the Federal Cabinet. The president formally appoints and dismisses cabinet ministers, on the recommendation of the chancellor; no parliamentary approval is needed. According to the Basic Law, the chancellor may set the number of cabinet ministers and dictate their specific duties. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard had the largest cabinet, with 22 ministers, in the mid-1960s. Helmut Kohl presided over 17 ministers at the start of his fourth term in 1994; the 2002 cabinet, the second of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, had 13 ministers, and the Angela Merkel cabinet as of 22 November 2005 had 15.
Article 65 of the Basic Law sets forth three principles that define how the executive branch functions:
* The "chancellor principle" makes the chancellor responsible for all government policies; this is also known as the Richtlinienkompetenz (roughly translated as "guideline setting competence"). Any formal policy guidelines issued by the chancellor are legally binding directives that cabinet ministers must implement. Cabinet ministers are expected to introduce specific policies at the ministerial level that reflect the chancellor's broader guidelines.
* The "principle of ministerial autonomy" entrusts each minister with the freedom to supervise departmental operations and prepare legislative proposals without cabinet interference so long as the minister's policies are consistent with the chancellor's broader guidelines.
* The "cabinet principle" calls for disagreements between federal ministers over jurisdictional or budgetary matters to be settled by the cabinet.

### List of chancellors (present)

Political party:  CDU  SPD
| Portrait | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Term of office | Political party | Vice Chancellor(s) | Cabinets |
| Portrait | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term | Time in office | Political party | Vice Chancellor(s) | Cabinets |
| 1 | | Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967) | 15 September 1949 – 16 October 1963 | 14 years, 31 days | CDU | Franz Blücher (1949–57) Ludwig Erhard (1957–63) | IIIIIIIV |
| 2 | | Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977) | 16 October 1963 – 1 December 1966 | 3 years, 46 days | CDU | Erich Mende (1963–66) Hans-Christoph Seebohm (1966) | III |
| 3 | | Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1904–1988) | 1 December 1966 – 22 October 1969 | 2 years, 325 days | CDU | Willy Brandt (1966–69) | I |
| 4 | | Willy Brandt (1913–1992) | 22 October 1969 – 7 May 1974 | 4 years, 197 days | SPD | Walter Scheel (1969–74) | III |
| Vice Chancellor Walter Scheel served as acting Chancellor from 7 May to 16 May 1974. ||||||||
| 5 | | Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015) | 16 May 1974 – 1 October 1982 | 8 years, 138 days | SPD | Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1974–82) Egon Franke (1982) | IIIIII |
| 6 | | Helmut Kohl (1930–2017) | 1 October 1982 – 27 October 1998 | 16 years, 26 days | CDU | Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1982–92) Jürgen Möllemann (1992–93) Klaus Kinkel (1993–98) | IIIIIIIVV |
| 7 | | Gerhard Schröder (b. 1944) | 27 October 1998 – 22 November 2005 | 7 years, 26 days | SPD | Joschka Fischer (1998–2005) | III |
| 8 | | Angela Merkel (b. 1954) | 22 November 2005 – 8 December 2021 | 16 years, 16 days | CDU | Franz Müntefering (2005–07) Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2007–09) Guido Westerwelle (2009–11) Philipp Rösler (2011–13) Sigmar Gabriel (2013–18) Olaf Scholz (2018–21) | IIIIIIIV |
| 9 | | Olaf Scholz (b. 1958) | 8 December 2021 – Incumbent | 3 years, 101 days | SPD | Robert Habeck (Incumbent) | I |

### Chancellor's election

The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag and formally appointed by the president of Germany. A chancellor's election is necessary whenever the office of chancellor has fallen vacant. This is the case if a newly elected Bundestag meets for the first time, or during legislative periods, if the former chancellor died or resigned.
The chancellor's election is one of the few cases in which a vote in the Bundestag requires a majority of all elected members, not just a majority of those assembled at the time, or the so-called Kanzlermehrheit ("chancellor majority"). As with other elections performed by the Bundestag, the chancellor is elected via secret ballot. The election procedure laid down in the Basic Law can be divided into three phases:

#### First voting phase

The process begins with the president of Germany proposing a candidate to the Bundestag (A formality, as they are usually a candidate on which majority parties have agreed to beforehand), who is then voted upon without debate ("1st voting phase"). If the nominee reaches the necessary "chancellor majority", the president of Germany will appoint him or her and, after that, the president of the Bundestag will administer the oath of office before the assembled house.

#### Second voting phase

If this nominee is not elected, the right of nomination is transferred onto the Bundestag: Candidates can now be nominated for election, whereby a nomination must be supported by at least a quarter of all MPs. The Bundestag can hold any number of ballots in this manner for two weeks. To be elected, a candidate still needs a "chancellor majority" of yes-votes.

#### Third voting phase

If the Bundestag is unable to elect a chancellor in these fourteen days, a final ballot is held on the very next day. Once again, candidates must be nominated by at least a quarter of all MPs. Candidates receiving a "chancellor majority" in this ballot are elected. Otherwise, it is up to the President of Germany either to appoint the candidate with the plurality of votes as Chancellor or to dissolve the Bundestag and call new elections.

### Other election mechanisms

Another possibility to vote a new chancellor into office is the constructive vote of no confidence, which allows the Bundestag to replace a sitting chancellor, if it elects a new chancellor with the "chancellor-majority" (see below).
As of 2023, all chancellors of the federal republic have been (re-)elected on proposal of the President and on the first ballot with the sole exception of Helmut Kohl, who was elected to his first term via a constructive vote of no confidence against Helmut Schmidt.

### Confidence

Unlike in other parliamentary legislatures, the Bundestag cannot remove the chancellor with a traditional motion of no confidence. Instead, the removal of a chancellor is only possible if a majority of the Bundestag members agree on a successor, who is then immediately sworn in as new chancellor. This procedure is called "constructive motion of no confidence" (konstruktives Misstrauensvotum) and was created to avoid the situation that existed in the Weimar Republic, when it was easier to gather a parliament majority willing to remove a government in office than to find a majority capable of supporting a new stable government.
In order to garner legislative support in the Bundestag, the chancellor can also ask for a motion of confidence (Vertrauensfrage, literally "question of trust"), either combined with a legislative proposal or as a standalone vote. If such a vote fails, the chancellor may ask the president for the dissolution of the Bundestag; they are however not bound to do so, and the president in turn is not bound to follow this request.
In theory, the motion of confidence is intended as a means for the chancellor to discipline his or her own coalition: If the members of parliament of the coalition parties withhold their confidence, they risk the chancellor triggering a snap election. In practice, however, it has also established itself as a means for the chancellor to deliberately trigger new elections by submitting the motion of confidence with the explicit goal of losing the vote and then requesting a dissolution of parliament. A total of six times a chancellor has submitted a motion of confidence to date; only twice was it a "genuine motion of confidence" (1982 and 2001), while in four cases the respective chancellor had the goal of triggering a snap election from the outset (1972, 1982, 2005, 2024).

### Vice chancellor

The chancellor must appoint one of the cabinet ministers as vice chancellor (Article 69.1 Basic Law). The vice chancellor may deputise for the chancellor, if they are absent or unable to perform their duties. Although the chancellor is theoretically free to choose any cabinet minister, in coalition governments the leadership of the second biggest coalition party usually designates one of their ministers for the position, whom the chancellor appoints accordingly.
If the chancellor's term in office ends or if they resign, the Bundestag has to elect a new chancellor. The president of Germany may ask the former chancellor to act as chancellor until a new office holder is elected, but if they are unwilling or unable to do so, the president may also appoint the vice chancellor as acting chancellor. This has happened once: On 7 May 1974, Chancellor Willy Brandt resigned as a consequence of the Guillaume affair, an espionage scandal. In his letter of resignation to President Gustav Heinemann he requested, to be not asked to remain in office in an acting capacity and instead to appoint the vice chancellor as acting chancellor. President Heinemann followed the request. Vice Chancellor Walter Scheel was appointed acting chancellor and served for nine days until the election of Helmut Schmidt on 16 May 1974.
Scheel not taken into account, three persons, Ludwig Erhard, Willy Brandt, and Olaf Scholz, have held both the office of Vice Chancellor and that of Chancellor of Germany.
The current vice chancellor of Germany is Robert Habeck, who also serves as Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection in the Scholz cabinet.

#### List of vice chancellors (1949–present)

| Portrait | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Term of office | Political party | Cabinet | Portfolio |
| Portrait | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term | Time in office | Political party | Cabinet | Portfolio |
| 1 | | Franz Blücher (1896–1959) | 20 September 1949 – 29 October 1957 | 8 years, 30 days | FDP | Adenauer I Adenauer II | Marshall Plan/Economic Cooperation |
| 2 | | Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977) | 29 October 1957 – 16 October 1963 | 5 years, 362 days | CDU | Adenauer III Adenauer IV | Economic Affairs |
| 3 | | Erich Mende (1916–1998) | 17 October 1963 – 28 October 1966 | 3 years, 10 days | FDP | Erhard I Erhard II | Intra-German Relations |
| The office was vacant from 28 October to 8 November 1966. ||||||||
| 4 | | Hans-Christoph Seebohm (1903–1967) | 8 November 1966 – 1 December 1966 | 23 days | CDU | Erhard II | Transport |
| 5 | | Willy Brandt (1913–1992) | 1 December 1966 – 22 October 1969 | 2 years, 325 days | SPD | Kiesinger | Foreign Affairs |
| 6 | | Walter Scheel (1919–2016) | 22 October 1969 – 16 May 1974 | 4 years, 207 days | FDP | Brandt I Brandt II | Foreign Affairs |
| 7 | | Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–2016) 1st term | 17 May 1974 – 17 September 1982 | 8 years, 123 days | FDP | Schmidt I Schmidt II Schmidt III | Foreign Affairs |
| 8 | | Egon Franke (1913–1995) | 17 September 1982 – 1 October 1982 | 14 days | SPD | Schmidt III | Intra-German Relations |
| The office was vacant from 1 October to 4 October 1982. ||||||||
| 9 | | Hans-Dietrich Genscher (1927–2016) 2nd term | 4 October 1982 – 18 May 1992 | 9 years, 230 days | FDP | Kohl I Kohl II Kohl III Kohl IV | Foreign Affairs |
| 10 | | Jürgen Möllemann (1945–2003) | 18 May 1992 – 21 January 1993 | 249 days | FDP | Kohl IV | Economic Affairs |
| 11 | | Klaus Kinkel (1936–2019) | 21 January 1993 – 27 October 1998 | 5 years, 279 days | FDP | Kohl IV Kohl V | Foreign Affairs |
| 12 | | Joschka Fischer (b. 1948) | 27 October 1998 – 22 November 2005 | 7 years, 26 days | Alliance 90/The Greens | Schröder I Schröder II | Foreign Affairs |
| 13 | | Franz Müntefering (b. 1940) | 22 November 2005 – 21 November 2007 | 1 year, 364 days | SPD | Merkel I | Labour and Social Affairs |
| 14 | | Frank-Walter Steinmeier (b. 1956) | 21 November 2007 – 27 October 2009 | 1 year, 340 days | SPD | Merkel I | Foreign Affairs |
| 15 | | Guido Westerwelle (1961–2016) | 27 October 2009 – 16 May 2011 | 1 year, 201 days | FDP | Merkel II | Foreign Affairs |
| 16 | | Philipp Rösler (b. 1973) | 16 May 2011 – 17 December 2013 | 2 years, 215 days | FDP | Merkel II | Economic Affairs |
| 17 | | Sigmar Gabriel (b. 1959) | 17 December 2013 – 14 March 2018 | 4 years, 87 days | SPD | Merkel III | Economic Affairs (2013–2017) Foreign Affairs (2017–2018) |
| 18 | | Olaf Scholz (b. 1958) | 14 March 2018 – 8 December 2021 | 3 years, 269 days | SPD | Merkel IV | Finance |
| 19 | | Robert Habeck (b. 1969) | 8 December 2021 – Incumbent | 3 years, 101 days | Alliance 90/The Greens | Scholz | Economic Affairs and Climate Protection |

### Official residence

Since 2001, the official seat of the chancellor is the Federal Chancellery in Berlin (Bundeskanzleramt). The former seat of the Federal Chancellery, the Palais Schaumburg in the former capital Bonn, now serves as a secondary official seat. The chancellor's country retreat is Schloss Meseberg in the state of Brandenburg.
The private lodging of the chancellors at Bonn has previously been the chancellor's bungalow built by Ludwig Erhard in the park of Palais Schaumburg, while his predecessor Konrad Adenauer used to live in his private house near Bonn. Under Adenauer, the government had also acquired a villa in Dahlem in 1962, a suburban district of southwestern Berlin, as a pied-a-terre of the chancellors in West-Berlin. Gerhard Schröder lived there between 1999 and 2001. Since 2004 it has however served as a private residence for the presidents of Germany. Angela Merkel preferred to live with her husband in her private apartment downtown.
* The Federal Chancellery, Berlin
* Palais Schaumburg, Bonn
* Schloss Meseberg, Gransee

### Style of address

The correct style of address in German is Herr Bundeskanzler (male) or Frau Bundeskanzlerin (female). In international correspondence, the chancellor is referred to as "His/Her Excellency the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany" ("Seine/Ihre Exzellenz der Bundeskanzler/die Bundeskanzlerin der Bundesrepublik Deutschland").

### Salary

Holding the third-highest state office available within Germany, the chancellor of Germany receives €220,000 per annum and a €22,000 bonus, i.e. one and two thirds of Salary Grade B11 (according to § 11 (1) a of the Federal Law on Ministers – Bundesministergesetz, BGBl. 1971 I p. 1166 and attachment IV to the Federal Law on Salaries of Officers – Bundesbesoldungsgesetz, BGBl. 2002 I p. 3020)