Thomas Rachel

Thomas Walther Rachel (born 17 May 1962) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 1994. He has been representing the Düren (electoral district) since 2005.

Thomas Rachel
Thomas Rachel in 2020
Member of the Bundestag
Incumbent
Assumed office 1994
Personal details
Born	Thomas Walther Rachel (1962-05-17) 17 May 1962 (age 63) Düren, West Germany (now Germany)
Political party	CDU
Alma mater	University of Bonn

In addition to his parliamentary work, Rachel served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2021. Since 2025, he has been serving as Commissioner for Global Freedom of Religion at the Federal Foreign Office in the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.^[1]

Early career

From 1986 until 1987, Rachel worked as parliamentary assistant to Matthias Wissmann.

Political career

Rachel first became a member of the Bundestag in the 1994 German federal election.^[2] From 1994 until 2005, he served on the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment. In addition to his committee assignments, he also served as deputy chairman of the German-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group from 1997 until 2005.

Since 2003, Rachel has been chairing the Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU (EAK).

From the 2005 elections until 2021, Rachel served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, under the leadership of successive ministers Annette Schavan (2005–2013, Johanna Wanka (2013–2018) and Anja Karliczek (2018–2021).

In the negotiations to form a "grand coalition" of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Rachel was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on education and research policy. In similar negotiations following the 2017 federal elections, he was again part of the working group on education policy.^{[citation needed]}

From 2021 to 2025, Rachel served on the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development.^[3]

In the negotiations to form a coalition government of the CDU and Green Party under Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst following the 2022 state elections, Rachel was part of his party’s delegation in the working group on science, digitization and innovation.^[4]

Other activities

Corporate boards

• Westenergie, Member of the Future Council (since 2023)^[5]

Non-profit organizations

• German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), Member of the Advisory Board (since 2022)^[6]
• Leo Baeck Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022)^[7]
• Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Member of the council (since 2015)^[8]
• Deutsche Welle, Member of the Broadcasting Council (2006–2008)^{[citation needed]}

Political positions

In June 2017, Rachel voted against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.^[9]

In 2019, Rachel joined 14 members of his parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Merkel and party chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer amid criticism voiced by conservatives Friedrich Merz and Roland Koch.^[10]