Vice-Chancellor of Germany

Deputy to the Federal Chancellor
Stellvertreter des Bundeskanzlers
Coat of Arms of the German Government
Flag of Germany
Incumbent Robert Habeck since 8 December 2021
Style	Mr. Vice-chancellor (informal) His Excellency (diplomatic)
Status	Deputy head of government
Member of	Federal Cabinet
Seat	As Federal Minister; currently Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Berlin/Bonn
Nominator	Chancellor or the coalition party
Appointer	Chancellor
Term length	At the Chancellor's pleasure
Constituting instrument	German Basic Law (German Constitution)
Formation	24 May 1949; 75 years ago (1949-05-24)
First holder	Franz Blücher

The Vice-Chancellor of Germany, officially the Deputy to the Federal Chancellor (German: Stellvertreter des Bundeskanzlers), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of government and, according to the constitution, gives this title of deputy to one of the federal ministers. It is custom that the title is given to a minister of the largest coalition partner, since 1966 typically the foreign minister. Since 2011, the minister for economic affairs has held the title most often.

In everyday politics, being vice-chancellor is considered more of an honorary title. The vice-chancellor may head cabinet meetings when the chancellor is not absent. The function of vice-chancellor is to use the specific constitutional powers of the chancellor in case that the chancellor is unable to perform their duties. This kind of substitution has never been made use of in the history of the Federal Republic. Should a chancellor resign, die or be permanently unable to perform the duties of office, the vice-chancellor does not automatically become the next chancellor. In such a case the Federal President assigns a minister to serve as acting chancellor until the Bundestag (parliament) elects a new chancellor.^[1]).

Although Stellvertreter is the constitutional term, vice-chancellor (Vizekanzler) is used more commonly. Chancellor (Kanzler) is the traditional term for the German head of government since 1867/71. A general deputy was introduced by law in 1878 (Stellvertretungsgesetz). In the Weimar Republic of 1919–1933, the office of Vizekanzler was mentioned in the internal reglement of the government. The current title has existed since the constitution of 1949.

Robert Habeck (Greens) is the current officeholder since 8 December 2021.