Thomas Walther Rachel (born 17 May 1962) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

from the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

since 1994. From 2005 until 2021, he also served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the

Federal Ministry of Education and Research The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (german: link=no, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, ), abbreviated BMBF, is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provi ...

in the government of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

. He has represented the

Düren (electoral district) Düren is an electoral constituency ( German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 90. It is located in ...

since 2005.

Early career

From 1986 until 1987, Rachel worked as parliamentary assistant to

Matthias Wissmann Matthias Wissmann (born 15 April 1949) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the president of the German Automobile Industry Association (VdA) from 2007 until 2018. Since 1999 Wissmann has bee ...

Political career

Rachel first became a member of the Bundestag in the 1994 German federal election. From 1994 until 2005, he served on the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment. In addition to his committee assignments, he also served as deputy chaiman of the German-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group from 1997 until 2005. Since 2003, Rachel has been chairing the

Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU The Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU (''Evangelischer Arbeitskreis der CDU/CSU'') (EAK) is a specialized agency of the CDU and CSU. The term ''evangelical'' is not to be confused with a more conservative or radical connotation in the Engl ...

(EAK). From the 2005 elections until 2021, Rachel served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the

in the government of

, under the leadership of successive ministers

Annette Schavan Annette Schavan (; born 10 June 1955) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was the Federal Minister of Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2013, when she resigned foll ...

(2005–2013,

Johanna Wanka Johanna Wanka (''née'' Müller; born 1 April 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister for Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018. ...

(2013–2018) and Anja Karliczek (2018–2021). In the negotiations to form a " grand coalition" of Chancellor

's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

(SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Rachel was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on education and research policy. In similar negotiations following the 2017 federal elections, he was again part of the working group on education policy. Since 2021, Rachel has been serving on the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development. In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the CDU and

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

under

Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia The Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Ministerpräsident des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen), also referred to as Premier or Prime Minister, is the head of government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (''NRW''). The po ...

Hendrik Wüst Hendrik Josef Wüst (born 19 July 1975) is a German politician currently serving as Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is a member of the Christian democratic and liberal-conservative CDU. In October 2021 he succeeded ...

following the 2022 state elections, Rachel was part of his party’s delegation in the working group on science, digitization and innovation.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Westenergie, Member of the Future Council (since 2023)

Non-profit organizations

* German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Member of the Advisory Board (since 2022) * Leo Baeck Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (german: Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD) is a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United (e.g. Prussian Union) Protestant regional churches and denominations in German ...

(EKD), Member of the council (since 2015) * ''

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

'', Member of the Broadcasting Council (2006–2008)

Political positions

In June 2017, Rachel voted against Germany's introduction of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. In 2019, Rachel joined 14 members of his parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Merkel and party chairwoman

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (; Kramp; born 9 August 1962), sometimes referred to by her initials of AKK, is a retired German politician who served as Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2021 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from ...

amid criticism voiced by conservatives

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (born 11 November 1955) is a German lawyer and politician, serving as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and as leader of the Union parliamentary group as well as the Leader o ...

and

Roland Koch Roland Koch (born 24 March 1958) is a German jurist and former conservative politician of the CDU. He was the 7th Minister President of Hesse from 7 April 1999, immediately becoming the 53rd President of the Bundesrat, completing the term beg ...

.Jens Schneider (30 October 2019)
Machtkampf in der CDU: Abgeordnete nennen parteiinterne Kritik "extrem schädlich"
''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

''.

References

External links