The leader of Germany's Free Democrats (FDP), Christian Lindner, said he does not want Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble's conservative CDU party to head the finance ministry again.

Lindner said in an interview published Tuesday he would be on board with a new finance minister from the Green party, his own party, or even Merkel's sister party, the CSU.

"Anything would be better than keeping the chancellery and the finance ministry in the hands of the CDU," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He added that the combination of Schäuble as finance minister and Merkel as chancellor for the past eight years has not "proven to be successful."