Helge Reinhold Braun (born 18 October 1972) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Between 2018 and 2021, he served as Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the fourth coalition 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 was the Parliamentary Secretary of State for Bureaucracy Reduction and Federal-State Relations at the Chancellery between 2013 and 2018. Braun, who was thought of as a party insider, loyal to moderate Merkel, ran in the December 2021 CDU leadership election, but only came in a distant third.

Early life and education

After passing the ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen ye ...

'' in 1992 at the Liebigschule in

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 unive ...

, Braun studied medicine at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen. From 2001 until 2009, he was a scientific assistant at the Clinic for Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Analgesic Therapy of the

University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg The University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg (') is a German university hospital based in Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen ...

. He speaks German and some English.

Political career

From 1989 until 2007 Braun was a member of the

Young Union The Junge Union Deutschlands (''Young Union of Germany'') or JU is the joint youth organisation of the two conservative German political parties, CDU and CSU. Membership is limited to individuals between 14 and 35 years of age. Junge Union claim ...

(JU). He was the district leader of the JU Giessen from 1992 till 1997 and from 1998 until 2001 he was the regional leader of the JU Mittelhessen. He has been a member of the Christian Democratic Union since 1990.

Member of Parliament

Braun first served as a member of the Bundestag from October 2002 to September 2005. From 2003 until 2005 he was the deputy leader of the Hessian Members of the Bundestag. He also served on the Committee on Education and Research, the Committee on Environment, Nuclear Safety and Nature Conservation and on the Parliamentary Advisory Board for Sustainable Development. Braun lost his seat in the 2005 federal elections. He was able to re-enter the Bundestag in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, winning the constituency of his home town of Gießen with a majority of 59,441 votes or 36.7%. After the election, he was again elected as deputy leader of the Hessian MPs. In the subsequent federal elections of

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

he was able to defend his seat. In Merkel's

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

, Braun was Parliamentary Secretary of State for Education and Research, serving alongside

Thomas Rachel 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 from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 1994. From 2005 until 2021, he also served ...

under 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 ...

(2009–2013) and

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. F ...

(2013). During his time in office, he notably stepped up Germany's activities on research into

neglected tropical diseases Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of tropical infections that are common in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. They are caused by a variety of pathogens, such as viruses, bact ...

. In the negotiations to form a ''

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are ...

'' of Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social ...

) 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 ...

following the 2013 federal elections, Braun was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on education and research policy, led by

and

Doris Ahnen Doris Maria Ahnen is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Minister for Finance in the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2014. Prior to that she served as the Minister for Education, Re ...

. Merkel subsequently appointed him as Parliamentary Secretary of State for Bureaucracy Reduction and Federal-State Relations, serving directly under her in the Federal Chancellery. In that capacity, he was one of the officials co-ordinating Germany's response to the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

in 2015. After the

2017 elections The following elections occurred in 2017. Africa *2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017 *2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017 * 2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017 *2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017 *20 ...

and the successful coalition talks between the CDU/CSU and SPD in February 2018, Braun became the designated Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister of Special Affairs in the fourth Merkel government. On 14 March 2018, he succeeded

Peter Altmaier Peter Altmaier (born 18 June 1958) is a German lawyer and CDU politician who served as Acting Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2018 and as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy from 2018 to 2021. He previously served as Federal Mi ...

. For the 2021 elections, Braun was elected to lead the CDU campaign in Hesse. He lost his constituency to the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

but was re-elected on the state list. On November 12, 2021, Braun announced his candidacy for the Christian Democratic Union leadership, joining opponents

Norbert Röttgen Norbert Alois Röttgen (born 2 July 1965) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel f ...

and

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 ...

in the race to succeed

Armin Laschet Armin Laschet (; born 18 February 1961) is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 3 ...

; the position ultimately went to Merz. Since late 2021, Braun has been chairing the Budget Committee. In this capacity, he also serves as his parliamentary group’s

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

on the

annual budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

of the Federal Ministry of Health. In 2022, he also joined the Subcommittee on Global Health.

Other activities

* Loewe Center for Novel Drug Targets against Poverty-Related and Neglected Tropical Infectious Diseases (DRUID), Member of the Advisory Board * Friends of the University of Giessen, Member of the Governing Board * Sepsis-Stiftung, Member of the Board of Trustees *

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), Vice Chairman of the council (2018–2021) *

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

(MDC),

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (german: Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren) is the largest scientific organisation in Germany. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centers. ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (2009-2013)Anja Kühne (18 September 2013)
Finanzlücke beim Max-Delbrück-Centrum Berlin: „Mangelhafte Organisation" kostete MDC fast 13 Millionen Euro

Der Tagesspiegel ''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...

. * German Foundation for Peace Research (DSF), Ex-Officio Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees (2009-2013) * Stiftung Lesen, Member of the Board of Trustees (2009-2013)

Recognition

* 2015: Global Sepsis Award

Personal life

Braun is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and is married.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Helge 1972 births Living people People from Giessen Members of the Bundestag for Hesse Federal government ministers of Germany German Roman Catholics Heads of the German Chancellery 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 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany