Michael Kretschmer

Michael Kretschmer was born on 7 May 1975 in Görlitz, he is a Protestant and the father of two sons. After leaving school, Michael Kretschmer completed an apprenticeship as an office information electronics technician and gained his higher education entrance qualification. From 1998 to 2002, he studied industrial engineering at the Dresden University of Applied Sciences and graduated in 2002 with a degree in industrial engineering. Michael Kretschmer began his political career as a councillor in his home town of Görlitz from 1994 to 1999. From 1993 to 2002, he was a member of the state executive of the Junge Union Sachsen und Niederschlesien. On 23 April 2005, Michael Kretschmer was elected Secretary General of the Saxon CDU and subsequently confirmed in office several times. Since 9 December 2017, he has been the state chairman of the CDU state association of Saxony. He was first elected to the German Bundestag in 2002 as a direct candidate in the constituency of Görlitz, where he served until 2017. From 2005 to 2009, he was Deputy Chairman of the Education and Research Working Group of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag. From 2009 to 2017, Michael Kretschmer was deputy leader of the parliamentary group with responsibility for education and research as well as art, culture and media. After the 2013 Bundestag elections until September 2017, Michael Kretschmer was also Chairman of the Saxony regional group in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag. On 22 August 2017, Michael Kretschmer was elected President of the Saxon Adult Education Association (Sächsischer Volkshochschulverband e.V.). He is also a member of the Fürst-Pückler-Park Friends' Association. Michael Kretschmer has been Minister President of the Free State of Saxony since 13 December 2017