Michael Kretschmer


Michael Kretschmer is a German CDU politician. He has been Minister President of Saxony since 13 December 2017.

Political career

Member of Parliament, 2002–2017

From 2002 to 2017 Kretschmer was member of the Bundestag as directly elected representative for Görlitz. He first served on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment. From 2009 to 2017 he was one of the vice chairs of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairman Volker Kauder. During his time in parliament, he was also of the German-Russian Parliamentary Friendship Group and the German-Polish Parliamentary Friendship Group.
In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and the SPD following the 2013 federal elections, Kretschmer led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on cultural and media affairs; his counterpart of the SPD was Klaus Wowereit.

Minister-President of Saxony, 2017–present

On 18 October 2017, Stanislaw Tillich announced his resignation as Minister President of Saxony and suggested that Kretschmer should replace him. He is only the fourth and also the youngest person to hold that office.
As one of Saxony's representatives at the Bundesrat, Kretschmer has been serving as member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs since 2017. In addition, he is a member of the German-Russian Friendship Group set up in cooperation with Russia's Federation Council.
In the negotiations to form a fourth cabinet under Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Kretschmer co-chaired the working group on transport and infrastructure, alongside Alexander Dobrindt and Sören Bartol.

Other activities

In June 2017, Kretschmer voted against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.
While visiting the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2019, Kretschmer met with President Vladimir Putin and later called for the lifting of EU economic sanctions against Russia. This was immediately rejected by CDU chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Controversy

During his tenure as secretary general of the CDU in Saxony, Kretscher faced criticism after reports surfaced in 2010 that personal meetings with party chairman and Minister-President Stanislaw Tillich were offered to potential corporate sponsors in exchange for donations.