The Federal Republic of Germany is the dominating economic power in Europe and the third biggest in the world, after the USA and Japan. Though generally being considered a stable democracy, extremist right-wing parties have seen a massive influx of voters in the past elections, and they now make up over 29% of the German parliament. This is blamed by many on the unstable situation in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe and the economic recession the FRG has experienced since 1995. Due to the many representatives by extremist parties, the current government is made up by a big coalition between the Christian Democrats (29,1%) and the Social Democrats (19,2%), under the chancellorship of Wolfgang Schaeuble (CDU) with Gerhard Schroeder (SPD) as his vice-chancellor and foreign minister.