German Post-Unification Coalition Habits

In West Germany until unification, an unwritten law had been established:
As a rule, the minor partner of a coalition always got to provide the most important minister,
the foreign minister, in personal union with the office of the vice chancellor.

This practice worked well for four decades.
But then something unforeseen happened: The overthrow of the communist regime in East Germany.
When the former GDR already had elected a democratic government and the unification was known to come,
the question hung in the air whether the vice chancellor's post should not be reserved
for a representant of the accession states (as long as the chancellor comes from the West).
Such an "East Tribune" could most probably be claimed by the party
which run strongest in both West and East.
This rose the question as to how this loss of influence could be made up to the
minor coalition partners; for instance by separating the positions vice chancellor and foreign minister,
but certainly that would not suffice to appease the political partner.


IOTL, this conflict was resolved several months before unification by a statement
of the GDR's prime minister, Lothar de Maizi`ere,
who declared he would not lay claim to the office of vice chancellor.
(I am not aware of how much pressure from West politicians had been
necessary to produce this communication; not much, I suppose -
for it seemed that de Maizi`ere, a civil rights activist, was grateful
for the opportunity to depart again from national-level politics).
That opened the door for continuation of the established habits between
coalition partners.


Now I ask:
What would have happened if de Mazi`ere would not have abandoned
his claim voluntarily?
How would the established West politicians react on this new challenge?
 
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I think its difficult to make something out of it. Formaly the title Vice-Chancellor doesn´t even exist. The Basic Law just says, that the Chancellor "chose a deputy" from the ministers. It isn´t comparable to the US-Vice-President.
The other problem is, that de Maizere had to retire in Dezember 1990, because he was accused to be a Stasi-informer. Just not enough time to create a tradition.
And after all, since 2005 a East-German is Federal Chancellor. No need for empty titles anymore.
 
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