The second Merkel cabinet was reshuffled several times. The first change occurred on 30 November 2009, when
Franz Josef Jung resigned as Labour Minister amidst controversy surrounding the
Kunduz airstrike, which happened while he was Defense Minister in the previous cabinet. He was succeeded by former Family Affairs Minister
Ursula von der Leyen, who was in turn succeeded by
Kristina Schröder. On 3 March 2011,
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg stepped down as Defense Minister following the discovery of plagiarized content in his doctoral dissertation. He was succeeded by former Interior Minister
Thomas de Maizière, who was in turn succeeded by
Hans-Peter Friedrich. On 10 May 2011,
Rainer Brüderle was elected as the FDP's parliamentary leader and resigned his position as Economics Minister. He was succeeded by former Health Minister
Philipp Rösler, who was in turn succeeded by
Daniel Bahr. On 13 May 2011, the FDP elected Rösler to succeed
Guido Westerwelle as party chairman. Rösler was then named
Vice Chancellor on 16 May 2011, succeeding Westerwelle in this position as well. Westerwelle retained the position of Foreign Minister. On 16 May 2012, Merkel requested that
President Joachim Gauck dismiss Environment Minister
Norbert Röttgen after the CDU's defeat in the
North Rhine-Westphalia state election. Röttgen had been CDU chairman for that state. He was dismissed on 22 May 2012 and was succeeded as Environment Minister by
Peter Altmaier. On 5 February 2013,
Annette Schavan was stripped of her doctorate by the
University of Düsseldorf due to alleged plagiarism in her PhD thesis. She resigned on 9 February 2013 and was succeeded by
Johanna Wanka. == See also ==