Thorsten Frei

Thorsten Frei (born 8 August 1973) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Head of the Federal Chancellery in the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz from May 2025 to July 2026.

Frei has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2013.

Political career Frei became mayor of Donaueschingen in 2004, a position he relinquished when he first became a member of the Bundestag in the 2013 German federal election. From 2013 until 2017, he was a member of the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Civilian Crisis Prevention.

From 2018 to 2021, Frei served as deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairman Volker Kauder. In this capacity, he coordinated the group's legislative activities on consumer protection, domestic affairs, sports, and minorities. He also served on the Committee on the Election of Judges (Wahlausschuss), which is in charge of appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

From 2021 to 2025, Frei was his parliamentary group's chief whip, under the leadership of successive chairs Ralph Brinkhaus (2021–2022) and Friedrich Merz (2022–2025).

In addition to his committee assignments, Frei chaired the German-Swiss Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Other activities Munich Security Conference Foundation, Member of the Foundation Council (since 2025) Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF), Member of the Supervisory Board (2018–2019) Federal Agency for Civic Education (BPB), Member of the Board of Trustees