Silvia Breher | |
|---|---|
 Breher in 2025 | |
| Deputy Leader of theChristian Democratic Union | |
| Assumed office 22 November 2019 | |
| Leader | Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer Armin Laschet Friedrich Merz |
| Preceded by | Ursula von der Leyen |
| Member of theBundestag forCloppenburg – Vechta | |
| Assumed office 24 September 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Franz-Josef Holzenkamp |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Silvia Maria Lucke (1973-07-23)23 July 1973 (age 52) |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Osnabrück University |
| Website | silvia-breher |
Silvia Maria Breher (néeLucke; born 23 July 1973) is a German lawyer and politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a Member of theBundestag for the constituency ofCloppenburg – Vechta since the2017 federal election.
In addition to her work in parliament, Breher has been serving asParliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of Food and Agriculture in thegovernment ofChancellorFriedrich Merz since 2025.[1]
Already since 2019, Breher has been serving as deputy chair of the CDU, under the leadership of successive chairsAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (2019–2021),Armin Laschet (2021–2022) and Merz.[2]
Breher was born inLöningen and grew up on a farm inLindern.[3] After gaining her Abitur at Copernicus Gymnasium in Löningen she studied law at theOsnabrück University.[4] At the end of 2000 she began practicing as a self-employed lawyer. From 2011 till 2017 she was the Chief Executive of the "Kreislandsvolkverbandes Vechta", the local farmers' union.[4]
Breher is a member of the Christian Democratic Union and of her local CDU organisation inCloppenburg. Between 2014 and 2015 she was a member of the CDU CommissionNachhaltig leben – Lebensqualität bewahren[4]. Since 2018 Breher has been the leader of the Cloppenburg CDU district association[5] and the Löningen CDU association. In March 2019 she was elected leader of the Oldenburg CDU state association[6] and thus member of the State Executive of the CDU in Lower Saxony, under the leadership of chairmanBernd Althusmann.[7]
As successor ofFranz-Josef Holzenkamp,[8] Breher was selected as the CDU candidate for Cloppenburg – Vechta for the2017 federal elections. She subsequently won the election with the highest vote share in the country, 57.7 percent.[9] Her constituency is seen as a CDU safe seat, with her party winning the constituency uninterrupted since 1953. In parliament, she was a member of the Committee on Food and Agriculture (2018–2021) as well as a member of the Committee on Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (since 2018).[4]
At the CDU conference in November 2019, Breher was elected as one of the deputy leaders of her party;[10] she succeededUrsula von der Leyen who had been elected to thePresidency of the European Commission.[3]
Amid theCOVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Breher co-chaired – alongsideTobias Hans,Hendrik Hoppenstedt,Yvonne Magwas andPaul Ziemiak – the CDU's first ever digital national convention in 2021.[11]
Ahead of the2021 elections, CDU chairmanArmin Laschet included Breher in his eight-membershadow cabinet for the Christian Democrats' campaign.[12]
In September 2017, Breher supportedsame-sex marriages.[13] In April 2020, she co-signed – alongside around 50 other members of her parliamentary group – a letter toPresident of the European CommissionUrsula von der Leyen which called on the European Union to take in children who were living in migrant camps across Greece.[14][15]
For the2021 national elections, Breher endorsedArmin Laschet as the Christian Democrats' joint candidate to succeedChancellorAngela Merkel.[16]
Media related toSilvia Breher at Wikimedia Commons
