Lafontaine, 55, also resigned as chairman of the Social Democrat party (SPD), a post he had held since November 1995. The SPD dominates the coalition which took office after a general election on September 27, 1998, and brought an end to 16 years of conservative government in Germany under Christian Democrat Helmut Kohl, the man who re-united Germany in 1990.Schroeder named low-key economics expert Hans Eichel as the new finance minister today and was himself nominated to head the governing Social Democrats. He is now more likely to have his hands free to pursue the kind of pragmatic pro-business economic and finance policy he wants.