Gottfried Hermann Gröhe (born 25 February 1961) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister of Health in the third cabinet of

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018.

Early life and career

Gröhe finished law school at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

and was a research assistant at the university from 1987 to 1993. He also worked as a trainee lawyer at a local court in Cologne from 1991 until 1993. He has been a licensed lawyer since 1997. http://www.hermann-groehe.de/page/57.htm Hermann-grohe.de. Retrieved 16 December 2013
Archived
at WebCite.

Political career

Gröhe was active member of '' Junge Union (JU)'' the youth organization of CDU which he joined as a schoolboy 1975. He led the JU as federal chairman from 1989 till 1994. Becoming a member of CDU in 1977, Gröhe has been a member of the German Bundestag since the

1994 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1994. Africa * 1994 Botswana general election * 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election * 1994 Malawian general election * 1994 Mozambican general election * 1994 Namibian general election * 1994 South Afr ...

, representing the Neuss I constituency. Between 1998 and 2005, he was his parliamentary group's spokesperson on human rights and humanitarian aid. He subsequently served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2005 until 2008. From 2008 until 2009, Gröhe briefly served as Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery under Chancellor Angela Merkel. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

following the 2009 federal elections, he was a member of the working group on economic affairs and energy, led by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Rainer Brüderle.

Secretary General of the CDU, 2009–2013

As successor of Ronald Pofalla, Gröhe was secretary general of the CDU 2009–2013; serving as the campaign manager in the 2013 elections. He was credited with marshalling Angela Merkel’s electoral victory that year, the party's best result since

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

in 1990. In the negotiations to form a

following the elections, Gröhe was part of the 15-member leadership circle chaired by Merkel, Horst Seehofer and Sigmar Gabriel.

Federal Minister of Health, 2013–2018

Following the formation of the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Gröhe took office as Federal Minister of Health. His deputies were Ingrid Fischbach and Annette Widmann-Mauz. In October 2014, Gröhe's elderly care reform bill, which is supposed to better fit the individual needs of those in care and expected to cost the government a further 1.2 billion euro ($1.5 billion), was passed by the Bundestag. In December 2014, Gröhe was surprisingly contested by Jens Spahn for a place on the CDU's ruling council, in a move that was widely seen as crystallizing the generational tensions within the party. Spahn's election bid was backed by the then 72-year-old finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble. Shortly before the vote at the annual CDU party conference, Gröhe withdrew his candidacy and Spahn was elected. During his time in office, Gröhe also focused heavily on

global health Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems th ...

issues. Alongside his colleague

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional association football, footballer. A prolific Forward (association football)#Striker, striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarde ...

, he travelled to

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

right after the West African Ebola virus epidemic in 2015. That same year, he accompanied Merkel when she spoke at the opening of the annual

World Health Assembly The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 World Health Organization#Membership, member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of h ...

in Geneva on the need for reforming the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO) to ensure there is prompt response to health emergencies. As part of Germany's G7 presidency in 2015, he brought together G7 Health Ministers to adopt a declaration addressing

antimicrobial resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria (antibiotic resista ...

(AMR). In March 2016, Gröhe was appointed by

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

to the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, which was co-chaired by presidents

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He later led Germany's delegation to the

2016 High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS The 2016 High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS was one of the annual United Nations Meetings on HIV and AIDS, starting on 8 June, and ending 2 days later, on 10 June 2016, in New York. It was co-facilitated by Switzerland and Zambia, and the United Na ...

in New York. Ahead of the 2017 elections, Gröhe was elected to lead his party's campaign in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under Merkel, he led the working group on health policy, alongside Malu Dreyer and Georg Nüßlein.

Later career

From March 2018, Gröhe served as deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group under the leadership of Volker Kauder (2017–2018), Ralph Brinkhaus (2018–2022) and

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU ...

(2022–2025). In this capacity, he oversaw the group's initiatives on social affairs and development policy. He was also appointed to the Pension Commission of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, a body mandated to draft recommendations for Germany's old-age pension system. In July 2024, Gröhe announced that he would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

Corporate boards

* Ecclesia Gruppe, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2019)

Non-profit organizations

* Deutsche Nationalstiftung, Member of the Board * Hermann Kunst Foundation for the Promotion of New Testament Textual Research, Member of the Board of Trustees * Internationales Bildungs- und Begegnungswerk (IBB), Member of the Board of Trustees * German Forum for Crime Prevention (DFK), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (2013–2018) * '' Chrismon'', Co-editor (2000–2009) * Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Member of the Council (1997–2009) * German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR), Member of the Board of Trustees (2001–) *

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation ('' German: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: KAS'') is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's head ...

(KAS), Member of the Board (since 2001) * ZDF, Member of the Television Board

Political positions

Domestic politics

Ahead of the Christian Democrats' leadership election in 2018, he publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair. For the 2021 leadership election, he later endorsed Armin Laschet.

Human rights

Addressing a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

"interfaith" meeting in 2008, Gröhe defended the right to convert to another faith, a right not recognized in some Muslim countries; he called it "unacceptable that up until now laws in some countries threaten those who want to convert with the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

." After an 18-month-old boy died of

measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...

in Berlin in 2015, Gröhe warned publicly that "those who refuse to vaccinate their children endanger not only them but others, threatening serious health problems." In June 2017, Gröhe 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 Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. In April 2020, Gröhe co-signed – alongside around 50 other members of his parliamentary group – a letter to

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

Ursula von der Leyen which called on the European Union to take in children who were living in migrant camps across Greece.

Personal life

Gröhe is married with former hospital administratorHelga Bittner (7 March 2015)
Die Ministergattin hat im Familien-Kabinett das Sagen
'' Rheinische Post''. Heidi Oldenkott-Gröhe; they have three sons and one daughter. He is a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

References