Silke Launert | |
|---|---|
 Launert in 2020 | |
| Member of theBundestag forBayreuth | |
| Assumed office 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Hartmut Koschyk |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1976-12-27)27 December 1976 (age 48) |
| Political party | CSU |
| Alma mater | University of Bayreuth |
Silke Launert (born 27 December 1976) is a German judge and politician of theChristian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of theBundestag from the state ofBavaria since 2013, representingBayreuth.
In addition to her work in parliament, Launert has been serving as aParliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of Research in thegovernment ofChancellorFriedrich Merz since 2025.[1]
From 1996 to 2001, Launert studied law at theUniversity of Bayreuth. As part of her legal training, she completed an internship at theEmbassy of Germany, Washington, D.C. in 2004. In 2013, she completed her Ph.D. thesis onspousal support in German law.[2]
Since 2013, Launert has been a member of the CSU executive board, under the leadership of successive chairsHorst Seehofer (2013–2019) andMarkus Söder (since 2019).
Launert first became a member of the Bundestag after the2013 German federal election.[3] She was a member of the Committee for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from 2013 until 2021[4] before moving to the Committee on Internal Affairs and the Budget Committee in 2021. On the Budget Committee, she was the parliament'srapporteur on theannual budget of theFederal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.[5][6] From 2022 to 2025, she chaired the Budget Committee's Subcommittee on European Affairs.[7]
In the negotiations to form afourthcoalition government under the leadership ofChancellorAngela Merkel following the2017 federal elections, Launert was part of the working group on families, women, seniors and youth, led byAnnette Widmann-Mauz,Angelika Niebler andKatarina Barley.
In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalition between the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) under the leadership ofFriedrich Merz and theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) following the2025 German elections, Launert was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on domestic policy, legal affairs, migration and integration, led byGünter Krings,Andrea Lindholz andDirk Wiese.[8]
In June 2017, Launert abstained from a parliamentary vote on Germany's introduction ofsame-sex marriage.[15]
In 2020, Launert was among the founding members of the ""Liberal-Conservative Circle", a group of members of the German Parliament from the CDU, CSU andFDP parties who opposed a potential coalition government with theGreen Party; along withAxel Fischer andTorsten Herbst, she served as one of the group's three inaugural chairs.[16]
Launert is divorced and a mother of two children.[17]
