Wolfgang Schaeuble has won his parliamentary seat a dozen times, survived an attempt on his life and guided Angela Merkel through the euro zone crisis. Now, the German chancellor may have to sacrifice him to secure a coalition deal.

Merkel's conservatives are likely to win a national election on Sept. 24, but lack of an overall majority could force them to continue their alliance with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

SPD leaders say their price for a re-run of the current 'grand coalition' would be for Schaeuble to vacate the finance ministry and hand it to them.

It remains unclear whether Merkel will have to sacrifice Schaeuble. But his departure would be a blow for the chancellor's goal of strengthening integration within the EU once Britain leaves, or at least within the euro zone.

For Merkel, deeper integration is a question of sequencing.

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