Germany's hardline Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is to leave his post to become speaker of the new parliament following watershed elections at the weekend, party sources said Wednesday.

The chief whip of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and his counterpart with their Bavarian sister party CSU, Alexander Dobrindt, are to formally nominate him, the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The sources said Schaeuble was ready to accept the change to leave the ministry, where he has been a staunch backer of austerity for debt-stricken eurozone member states such as Greece.

source: AFP