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Katherina Reiche | |
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.jpg) Reiche in 2025 | |
| Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2025 | |
| Chancellor | Friedrich Merz |
| Preceded by | Robert Habeck(as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action) |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 27 September 1998 – 4 September 2015 | |
| Constituency | Brandenburg |
| Parliamentary State Secretary to theFederal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure | |
| In office 17 December 2013 – 4 September 2015 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Minister | Alexander Dobrindt |
| Preceded by | Jan Mücke |
| Succeeded by | Enak Ferlemann |
| Parliamentary State Secretary to theFederal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety | |
| In office 28 October 2009 – 17 December 2013 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Minister | Norbert Röttgen Peter Altmaier |
| Preceded by | Michael Müller |
| Succeeded by | Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter |
| Deputy Chairperson of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group | |
| In office 2005–2009 | |
| Chancellor | Angela Merkel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1973-07-16)16 July 1973 (age 52) |
| Party | CDU (since 1992) |
| Spouse | |
| Domestic partner | Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (since 2025) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Potsdam Clarkson University |
| Occupation | Chemist, Politician |
| Website | katherina-reiche |
Katherina Reiche (born 16 July 1973) is a German manager and politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving asFederal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy in thecabinet ofChancellorFriedrich Merz since May 2025.[1]
From 1998 to 2015, she was amember of the German Bundestag, serving from 2005 to 2009 as one of the deputy chairpersons of theCDU/CSU parliamentary group. From 2009 to 2013, she wasParliamentary State Secretary to theFederal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and from 2013 to 2015, Parliamentary State Secretary to theFederal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure. In September 2015, she resigned her seat in the Bundestag.
After receiving herAbitur in 1992, she studied chemistry at theUniversity of Potsdam,Clarkson University in New York and theUniversity of Turku in Finland. In 1997, she received her diploma.
In 1992, Reiche was one of the founding members of theRing Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten (Association of Christian-Democrat Students, RCDS) in Potsdam and in the same year she joined theYoung Union (JU). Since 1996 she has also been member of theCDU.
In 2000 Reiche became a member of the federal executive of the CDU. From 2001 to 2015, she was also part of the party's executive board in the state ofBrandenburg.
During theelection campaign in 2002, Reiche was part of the CDU/CSU's competence team appointed by then chancellor candidateEdmund Stoiber, as an expert on women, youth and family policies. This decision was criticized by conservative circles inside the two parties, because Reiche was an unmarried mother at that point in time.
From 2005 until 2009, Reiche served as deputy chairwoman of theCDU/CSU's parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairmanVolker Kauder.[2] In this capacity, she was in charge of overseeing the policy areas Education and Science as well as Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
In the negotiations to form acoalition government following the2009 federal elections, Reiche was part of the working group on the environment, agriculture and consumer protection, led byIlse Aigner andMichael Kauch.[3]
In the government ofChancellorAngela Merkel, Reiche first served as Parliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety under successive ministersNorbert Röttgen (2009-2012) andPeter Altmaier (2012-2013) from 2009 to 2013. Following the2013 elections, she was named Parliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, this time under the leadership of ministerAlexander Dobrindt.
On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of thediplomatic relations between German andIndia, Reiche participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the two countries' governments inDelhi in May 2011.[4]
In 2015, Reiche resigned from her government office and laid down her parliamentary mandate to become Chief Executive Officer of the German Association of Local Utilities (VKU). In this capacity, she was unanimously elected President of theEuropean Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP) in June 2016.[5]
From 2018 until 2019, Reiche also served on the German government's so-called coal commission, which was tasked to develop a masterplan before the end of the year on how tophase-out coal and create a new economic perspective for the country's coal-mining regions.[6]
In late 2019, Reiche moved to a new position at German energy companyE.ON,[7] where she led its subsidiary Westenergie from 2020 to 2025.[8]
Since June 2020, she has been the Chairwoman of the National Hydrogen Council of theFederal Government.
In 2005, Reiche described the opponents ofgenetic engineering as"Bioterroristen" ("Bioterrorists").[17] She also criticized the two then government partiesSPD andthe Greens for trying to catch votes with this subject and stirring up the people's fears for the future.[citation needed]
In 2012, Reiche claimed same-sex marriage was a bigger threat to Germany than theEurozone crisis. She was heavily criticized byLGBT groups for the remark.[18]
Reiche is in a relationship withKarl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.[19]
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Media related toKatherina Reiche at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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