Florian Herrmann (born 7 December 1971 in

Kelheim Kelheim () is a town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the Kelheim (district), district Kelheim and is situated at the confluence of the rivers Altmühl and Danube. Kelheim has a population of around 16,750 (2020). His ...

) is a German lawyer and politician (

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

). He has been a member of the Bavarian State Parliament since 2008, Head of the

Bavarian State Chancellery Bavarian is the adjective form of the German state of Bavaria, and refers to people of ancestry from Bavaria. Bavarian may also refer to: * Bavarii, a Germanic tribe * Bavarians, a nation and ethnographic group of Germans * Bavarian, Iran, a villag ...

and Bavarian Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs and the Media since 2018, and for Federal Affairs and the Media since 2021.

Life

Studies and career

After graduating from the Dom-Gymnasium

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Isar river in ...

in 1991, Herrmann studied law at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

and the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

. In 1996 he passed the first state examination in law in Munich with honors and completed the

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(LL.M.) program at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

(US) in 1996/97. He was then employed as part of a research project by the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

with Michael Stolleis at the University of Frankfurt/Main and at the

Max Planck Institute for European Legal History The Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (; formerly ''Max Planck Institute for European Legal History''), situated in Frankfurt/Main, is one of 83 institutes and research facilities of the Max Planck Society (MPG). Since its ...

in Frankfurt am Main on a topic related to the history of international law (The standard work.

Franz von Liszt Franz Eduard Ritter von Liszt (2 March 1851 – 21 June 1919) was a German jurist, criminologist and international law reformer. As a legal scholar, he was a proponent of the modern sociological and historical school of law. From 1898 until 1917 ...

and international law). After his legal clerkship in the Higher Regional Court district of Munich, he passed the Second State Examination in Law in 2001 with distinction. During his studies and his doctorate, Herrmann was a scholarship holder from the

Cusanuswerk The Cusanuswerk is one of the thirteen German sponsorship organizations financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany) to promote gifted students. It is headquartered in Bonn. History The Cusanuswerk was founded in 1956 u ...

study grant. Herrmann was admitted to the bar in 2001 and worked in a Munich law firm until he founded a law firm specializing in corporate law in 2003.

Politics

Party

Herrmann joined the Christian Social Union in Bavaria in 1998. He began his political career in 1999 as managing director of the CSU local chapter in Freising. From 2003 to 2007 he was local chairman in Freising and deputy district chairman. He has been district chairman of the CSU in the district of Freising since 2007. From 2013 until 2021 Herrmann has been district chairman of the police and internal security working group of the CSU. Since 2013 he has also been a member of the party executive of the CSU. Herrmann is also chairman of the Media Commission of the CSU.

Local Politics

Herrmann has been a member of the district council of the Upper Bavarian district of

since 2002. From 2006 to 2018 he was chairman of the CSU district parliamentary group. In the local elections of 2002 he was the candidate of the CSU for the office of district administrator.

State Parliament

Since the 2008 Bavarian state election, Herrmann has been a directly elected member of the Bavarian state parliament for the electoral district of

, succeeding Otto Wiesheu. During his first term in office, he was a member of the Committee on Municipal Issues and Internal Security, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Issues and Consumer Protection, and the Data Protection Commission. He was also a member of the BayernLB/HGAA investigative committee, of which he became chairman in March 2011 after the previous chairman, Thomas Kreuzer, had been appointed State Secretary in the Bavarian Ministry of Education. From December 2011 to October 2013 he was Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Municipal Affairs and Homeland Security. He was a member of the 15th

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

. From April 2013 until its end in July 2013, he was chairman of the committee of inquiry into the Gustl Mollath case. In the state elections in Bavaria in 2013, he defended his electoral district. He was then elected chairman of the Committee on Municipal Affairs, Homeland Security and Sport. In the CSU state parliamentary group, he was a member of the parliamentary group executive committee, chairman of the working group for municipal issues, internal security and sport, and domestic policy spokesman for the group. He was also deputy chairman of the committee of inquiry "Modellbau". He was a member of the 16th

Head of the State Chancellery and State Minister

On 21 March 2018, he was appointed Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery and Minister of State for Federal Affairs in the Bavarian Cabinet Söder I under Prime Minister Markus Söder. He has been a member of the German

Federal Council Federal Council may refer to: Governmental bodies * Federal Council of Australasia, a forerunner to the current Commonwealth of Australia * Federal Council of Austria, the upper house of the Austrian federal parliament * Federal Council of German ...

since 17 April 2018. In the 2018 state election, he defended his electoral district again. On 12 November 2018, he was reappointed to his previous ministerial post in the Söder II cabinet, which was expanded to include responsibilities for European affairs and the media. He has represented Bavaria in the European Committee of the Regions since 2019. After Melanie Huml was appointed Minister of State for European and International Affairs, he was no longer responsible for European affairs. He was a member of the 17th

. In the 2023 state election, he defended his electoral district again. On 8 November 2023, he was reappointed to his previous ministerial post in the Söder III cabinet.

Civic engagement

Herrmann is a member of various local clubs. From 2001 to 2015 he was district chairman of the Europa-Union in the district of Freising and since 2005 he has been deputy chairman of the Freising training offensive e.V. 2009 he was elected chairman of the Community Foundation of the City of Freising, in 2021 he moved to the Board of Trustees. In 2010 he was appointed Vice President of the Landesverkehrswacht Bayern e.V.; from 2012 to 2020 he was its President. From 2013 to 2022 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Education Center Foundation of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. Since 2019 he has been a member of the board of trustees of the

Munich School of Philosophy Munich School of Philosophy (German: ''Hochschule für Philosophie München'') is a small Jesuit higher education college in Munich, Germany founded in 1925. History Founded as a seminary at Pullach in 1925 by Augustin Bea, first named the Ber ...

. Herrmann has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Freedom of Belief and Security in Europe since 2023. Since 2024 he has been a member of the foundation council of the

Munich Security Conference The Munich Security Conference (MSC), formerly Munich Conference on Security Policy, is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Germany, since 1963. Over the past four decades the Munich Security Con ...

. In 2023 he was elected chairman of the Catholic Men's Association in Tuntenhausen. From 1985 to 1996 he was an honorary organist in Giggenhausen.

Personal

Herrmann is the son of the former President of the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

, Wolfgang Herrmann. He is

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and lives in Freising with his wife Renate.

Awards

* Medal of Honor of the Association of German Criminal Investigators (BDK), Bavarian State Association (2017) *

Meritorious Public Service Medal The Meritorious Public Service Medal formerly the Outstanding Civilian Service Award is the third highest honor within the public service awards scheme of the Department of the Army that can be awarded to a private citizen. Eligibility The Secre ...

of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

(2021) * Medal of merits to local self-government in bronze (2021) *

Bavarian Order of Merit The Bavarian Order of Merit () is the Order of Merit of the Free State of Bavaria. It is awarded by the Minister-President of Bavaria as a "recognition of outstanding contributions to the Free State of Bavaria and the Bavarian people". The or ...

(2022)

Publications

References

{{Authority control Christian Social Union in Bavaria politicians People from Kelheim 1971 births Members of the Landtag of Bavaria Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Goethe University Frankfurt alumni University of Bonn alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni German Catholics Living people