BERLIN (AP) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-left deputy announced his resignation Tuesday, citing personal reasons for a move that deprives Germany's conservative leader of a trusted partner in her often fractious ""grand coalition.""

Vice Chancellor Franz Muentefering, who also is the labor minister, told reporters that he had decided to leave the Cabinet next week, probably on Nov. 21.
""The reason for this is purely a family-related and personal one,"" he said, adding that his wife has been seriously ill for some time. She has cancer and recently underwent surgery.
Muentefering said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier would become vice chancellor, and Olaf Scholz, his Social Democratic Party's parliamentary floor manager, would replace him as labor minister.
Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in a brief statement that she respected Muentefering's decision. ""It shows that there are situations in life that make it clear some things are more important than politics,"" she said.
She praised Muentefering as an ""exceptional and faithful"" partner in the coalition — ""even when we didn't see eye to eye.""
The vice chancellor was a key ally of former Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in pushing through economic reforms.
But Muentefering became increasingly isolated inside his own party over recent months as its current chairman, Kurt Beck, sought to pull it out of a poll slump by polishing its left-wing credentials.
That has contributed to an acrimonious atmosphere in the coalition, which has presided over an improvement in the economy and falling unemployment but often struggles to agree on domestic policy.
Muentefering had opposed a push by Beck to soften one of the most unpopular parts of Schroeder's reforms by expanding jobless benefits for older unemployed people.