Thomas Silberhorn (born 12 November 1968) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) 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 Common ...

from the state of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

since 2002.

Political career

Silberhorn first became a member of the Bundestag in the

2002 German federal election Federal elections were held in Germany on 22 September 2002 to elect the members of the 15th Bundestag. Incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's centre-left "red-green" governing coalition retained a narrow majority, and the Social Democratic Pa ...

. He has served on the Committee on European Affairs (2002-2013); the Subcommittee on Foreign Trade (2005-2009); and the Committee on Legal Affairs (2009-2013). In addition to his committee assignments, he is a member of the German-Japanese Parliamentary Friendship Group. In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the Christian Democrats (CSU together with the CDU) and the FDP following the 2009 federal elections, Silberhorn was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on foreign affairs, defense, Europe and development policy, led by

Franz Josef Jung Franz Josef Jung (born 5 March 1949) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He became Federal Minister of Defence in the Grand coalition cabinet of Angela Merkel on 22 November 2005. In October 2009 he became Minister ...

and

Werner Hoyer Werner Hoyer (born 17 November 1951 in Wuppertal) is a German economist and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who is currently serving as the President of the European Investment Bank. Education and early career Hoyer graduated as ...

. In the negotiations to form a '' Grand Coalition'' of the Christian Democrats 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, Silberhorn was part of the

CDU/CSU CDU/CSU, unofficially the Union parties (german: Unionsparteien, ) or the Union, is a centre-right Christian-democratic political alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Soc ...

delegation in the working group on

bank regulation Bank regulation is a form of government regulation which subjects banks to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, designed to create market transparency between banking institutions and the individuals and corporations with whom th ...

and the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polici ...

, led by

Herbert Reul Herbert Reul (born, 31 August 1952) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as State Minister for Internal Affairs in the government of successive Ministers-President Armin Laschet (2017–2021) and He ...

and

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 2017 to 2018, and was a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. Previously he was President of the European Parliam ...

. In the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

cabinet of Chancellor

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 ...

from 2013 to 2017, Silberhorn served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development under minister Gerd Müller. In the negotiations to form another coalition government under Merkel's leadership following the 2017 federal elections, Silberhorn was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding suc ...

, Gerd Müller and

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

. From 2018 until 2021, Silberhorn served (alongside Peter Tauber) as one of two Parliamentary State Secretaries at the

Federal Ministry of Defence The Federal Ministry of Defence (german: Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, ), abbreviated BMVg, is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at ...

under successive ministers Ursula von der Leyen (2018–2019) and

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 ...

(2019–2021). In 2019, Silberhorn co-chaired the CSU’s convention in Munich, alongside

Markus Blume Markus Blume (born 14 February 1975) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) who has been serving as State Minister for Science and Art in the cabinet of Minister President Markus Söder since 2022. From 2018 to ...

and Florian Hahn. Since the 2021 elections, Silberhorn has been serving as his parliamentary group’s spokesperson for Transatlantic relations.

Other activities

* European Academy of Bavaria, Member of the Board of Trustees *

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...

(AfDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2013-2018) * '' Deutsche Welle'', Member of the Broadcasting Council (2013-2018) * German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF), Member of the Board (2013-2018) *

German Institute for International and Security Affairs The German Institute for International and Security Affairs (german: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik; SWP) is a German think tank in international relations and security studies. A semi-official organization with close links to the federal gov ...

(SWP), Member of the Council (2013-2018) *

Federal Agency for Civic Education The Federal Agency for Civic Education (FACE, german: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (''bpb'')) is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, ...

(BPB), Member of the Board of Trustees (2002-2005)

Political positions

In June 2017, Silberhorn 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 sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

.Diese Unionsabgeordneten stimmten für die Ehe für alle
''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'', June 30, 2017.

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silberhorn, Thomas 1968 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 People from Bamberg (district) Parliamentary State Secretaries of Germany Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria