Katherina Reiche

Last updated

Sven Petke
​
​
(m. 2003;sep. 2025)​
Katherina Reiche
Katherina Reiche 2025-05-15 (cropped).jpg
Reiche in 2025
Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2025
Domestic partner Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (since 2025)
Children3
Alma mater University of Potsdam
Clarkson University
Occupation Chemist, Politician
Website katherina-reiche.de

Katherina Reiche (born 16 July 1973) is a German manager and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy in the cabinet of Chancellor Friedrich Merz since May 2025. [1]

Contents

From 1998 to 2015, she was a member of the German Bundestag, serving from 2005 to 2009 as one of the deputy chairpersons of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. From 2009 to 2013, she was Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and from 2013 to 2015, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure. In September 2015, she resigned her seat in the Bundestag.

Education

After receiving her Abitur in 1992, she studied chemistry at the University of Potsdam, Clarkson University in New York and the University of Turku in Finland. In 1997, she received her diploma.

Political career

Early beginnings

Reiche on a 1998 election poster KAS-Reiche, Katherina-Bild-19709-1.jpg
Reiche on a 1998 election poster

In 1992, Reiche was one of the founding members of the Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten (Association of Christian-Democrat Students, RCDS) in Potsdam and in the same year she joined the Young Union (JU). Since 1996 she has also been member of the CDU.

Member of the German Parliament, 1998–2015

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 of Brandenburg.

During the election campaign in 2002, Reiche was part of the CDU/CSU's competence team appointed by then chancellor candidate Edmund 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 the CDU/CSU's parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairman Volker 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 a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, Reiche was part of the working group on the environment, agriculture and consumer protection, led by Ilse Aigner and Michael Kauch. [3]

Career in government

In the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Reiche first served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety under successive ministers Norbert Röttgen (2009-2012) and Peter Altmaier (2012-2013) from 2009 to 2013. Following the 2013 elections, she was named Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, this time under the leadership of minister Alexander Dobrindt.

On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the diplomatic relations between German and India, Reiche participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the two countries' governments in Delhi in May 2011. [4]

Career in the energy sector

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 the European 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 to phase-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 company E.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 the Federal Government.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Non-profit organizations

Political views

In 2005, Reiche described the opponents of genetic engineering as "Bioterroristen" ("Bioterrorists"). [16] She also criticized the two then government parties SPD and the 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 the Eurozone crisis. She was heavily criticized by LGBT groups for the remark. [17]

Personal life

Reiche is in a relationship with Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. [18]

References

  1. ↑ "SPD-Minister stehen fest". bild. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
  2. ↑ "CDU website". Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  3. ↑ Koalitionsverhandlungen: Wen Union und FDP zum Feilschen schicken Spiegel Online , 6 October 2009.
  4. ↑ Günther Bannas (30 May 2011), Hoffnung auf „Eurofighter“-Geschäft: Erste deutsch-indische Regierungskonsultationen Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung .
  5. ↑ Katherina Reiche Elected CEEP President Archived 11 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), press release of 8 June 2016.
  6. ↑ Andreas Franke (6 June 2018), Germany launches commission tasked to develop coal exit masterplan S&P Global Platts .
  7. ↑ Christof Schürmann (11 September 2019), Katherina Reiche wird Chefin der neuen E.On-Netzgesellschaft Wirtschaftswoche .
  8. ↑ Jürgen Flauger (29 September 2020), Eons neue Netzwerkerin: Katherina Reiche geht mit Westenergie an den Start  Handelsblatt .
  9. ↑ Andreas Rinke and Sarah K Marsh (28 April 2025), Germany's new cabinet: who's who? Reuters .
  10. ↑ Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann gibt Aufsichtsratsmandat ab  Handelsblatt , 3 March 2023.
  11. ↑ 2022 Annual Report NRW.Bank.
  12. ↑ Mit Vordenkern in eine nachhaltige Zukunft: Vodafone Deutschland gründet Nachhaltigkeitsbeirat Vodafone Germany, press release of 5 June 2020.
  13. ↑ Bundeskanzlerin beruft Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung neu Archived 4 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), press release of 26 October 2016
  14. ↑ Bundeskanzler beruft neuen Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE), press release of 18 January 2023
  15. ↑ Members Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).
  16. ↑ "Personen & Konflikte". Publik-Forum.de (in German). Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  17. ↑ reporter3 (28 August 2012). "Equality group calls for German politician to retract anti-gay remarks". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ "Künftige Wirtschaftsministerin und Ex-Minister: Katherina Reiche und Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg machen Beziehung öffentlich" [Katherina Reiche and Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg make their relationship public] (in German). Stuttgarter Zeitung. 28 April 2025. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.