Prime Minister biography

Michael Kretschmer was born in Görlitz on 7 May 1975. He is Protestant and the father of two sons. Following his schooling, he completed an office IT technician’s apprenticeship and gained entrance to a university of applied science through this alternative educational path. From 1998 to 2002, he studied industrial engineering at Dresden University of Applied Sciences, obtaining his degree in 2002.

Michael Kretschmer began his political career as a city councillor in his hometown of Görlitz from 1994 to 1999. From 1993 to 2002, he was on the regional executive committee of the Young Union (Junge Union) of Saxony and Lower Silesia. On 23 April 2005, Michael Kretschmer was elected secretary general of Saxony’s CDU party, and was confirmed in office several times thereafter. He has been the leader of Saxony’s CDU regional association since 9 December 2017.

He was first elected to Germany’s Bundestag as a direct candidate in the Görlitz electorate in 2002, and remained a member until 2017. From 2005 to 2009, he was the deputy chair of the Education and Research work group run by the CDU/CSU parliamentary party in the German Bundestag. Michael Kretschmer was deputy party leader, with portfolios in education and research, art, culture and media, from 2009 to 2017. From the German federal election in 2013 to September 2017, Michael Kretschmer was also the leader of the Saxon regional group within the CDU/CSU party in the German Bundestag.

On 22 August 2017, Michael Kretschmer was elected president of the Sächsischer Volkshochschulverband e. V. (Saxon association for adult education centres). He is also involved with the “Fürst-Pückler-Park Bad Muskau” development association.

On 13 December 2017, Michael Kretschmer was elected Prime Minister of the Free State of Saxony.