As part of the coalition deal, it has been agreed that the SPD will choose who will be new foreign minister and the party has said it will announce its decision on Friday morning.
Gabriel who once used a speech to European Union elite to blast Brexiteers for not understanding what sovereignty means in today’s world was informed by ministers he would not be returning under Merkel.
He said on his Facebook page that he had been informed by the party’s new leaders, Olaf Scholz and Andrea Nahles, that he would not be part of the new government. “(Serving my party) has been a big honour for which I am deeply grateful,” he said.
He told an audience recently: ”We need more Europe, not less. Europe is there to make us strong in foreign policy and defence.”
In a lengthy passage, he railed against what he called the “myth” that the EU is a risk to national powers.
Mr Gabriel explained: “There is no loss of sovereignty by being part of EU.
“There might be a loss of sovereignty if we did not have the EU, if nations have to defend interests of their population.
“It is vital and important our society understands modern concept of what real sovereignty is.”
Gabriel will still be “directly elected member of the German Bundestag, but now the time has ended in which I have performed political leadership tasks for the SPD,” he wrote.
Last month he was accused of damaging Germany’s credibility by an ally of Angela Merkel in a furious rant over Berlin’s commitment to military spending in the latest clash between the country’s governing parties.
Norbert Roettgen, a key member of Mrs Merkel’s conservative, blasted Foreign Minister Mr Gabriel, a Social Democrat, for questioning the target of 2 percent of GDP “shortly after the ink had dried” on a deal by their two blocs to renew the “grand coalition” that has ruled since 2013.
In his almost 30-year political career, Gabriel worked for Germany and the SPD in leading positions for 18 years: “It was an exciting and eventful time, which opened up great opportunities and experiences for me that went far beyond what I could have imagined as a young person.”