Markus Blume (born 14 February 1975) is a German politician of the

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German language, German: , CSU) is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic and Conservatism in Germany, conservative List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. Having a regionali ...

(CSU) who has been serving as State Minister for Science and Arts in the cabinet of Minister President

Markus Söder Markus Thomas Theodor Söder (born 5 January 1967) is a German politician from Bavaria, Germany serving as List of Ministers-President of Bavaria, Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018 and Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, lead ...

since 2022. From 2018 to 2022 he served as Secretary General of the CSU.

Early life and career

Blume was born in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He graduated in political science from the Munich School of Public Policy (HfP) in 1998. In 2002, he founded consulting firm Content5 in Munich. He worked as spokesperson and strategic adviser of

Viktor Vekselberg Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (born April 14, 1957) is a Russian-Israeli businessman and oligarch. He is the founder and chairman of Renova Group, a Russian conglomerate. According to ''Forbes'', as of November 2021, his fortune is estimated at ...

's Zurich-based investment holding Renova Management AG from 2005 until 2008.

Political career

Early beginnings

Blume joined the CSU in 1995. From 1997 until 2001, he served as chairman of the

Association of Christian Democratic Students The Association of Christian Democratic Students (, RCDS) is a German student organisation founded in 1951 and based in Berlin. It contains more than 100 groups at universities with 8,000 members in total. The RCDS is the largest and oldest exi ...

(RCDS) in Bavaria and was an ex-officio member of the CSU leadership under chairman

Edmund Stoiber Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th minister-president of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he ...

Career in state politics

Blume has been a representative of Stimmkreis München-Ramersdorf in the State Parliament of Bavaria since the

2008 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2008. * Electoral calendar 2008 * 2008 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2008 Angolan legislative election * 2008 Anjouan presidential election * 2008 Republic of the Congo Senate elec ...

. In parliament, he is a member of the Committee on Economic and Media Affairs, Infrastructure, Building and Transport, Energy and Technology, and of the Committee on Health and Care. Since 2011, he has been serving as chairman of the CSU Business Council. In the negotiations to form a ''

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

'' of

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

's Christian Democrats ( CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 German elections, he was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on digital policy, led by

Dorothee Bär Dorothee Gisela Renate Maria Bär ( Mantel; born 19 April 1978) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) who has been serving as the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, Federal Minister of Research, T ...

and

Brigitte Zypries Brigitte Zypries (born 16 November 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Between 2017 and 2018, she served as Minister for Economics and Energy in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel; she was the f ...

. Between 2015 and 2017, Blume was in charge of re-drafting the CSU party's new manifesto. From 2017, he served as Deputy Secretary General under the leadership of party chairman

Horst Seehofer Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister for the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the ...

and Secretary General

Andreas Scheuer Andreas Franz Scheuer (born 26 September 1974) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party. From 2018 to 2021, he was Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the Cabinet Merkel IV. From 2013 to 2018, he ...

. Blume was a CSU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

in 2017. In the negotiations to form another

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

under the leadership of

following the 2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on cultural affairs and media, led by

Monika Grütters Monika Grütters (born 9 January 1962) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Staatsministerin für Kultur und Medien) in the government of Chancel ...

and Michael Roth. In 2019, Blume co-chaired the CSU’s convention in Munich, alongside Florian Hahn and

Thomas Silberhorn Thomas Silberhorn (born 12 November 1968) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria since 2002. Political career Silberhorn first became a ...

State Minister for Science and Arts, 2022–present

In 2022, Blume was appointed as State Minister for Science and Arts. In his capacity as minister, he has been chairing the Joint Science Conference (GWK) since 2023, a body which deals with all questions of research funding, science and research policy strategies and the science system that jointly affect Germany's federal government and its 16 federal states. In the negotiations to form a ''

'' under the leadership of

Friedrich Merz Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (; ; born 11November 1955) is a German politician serving as Chancellor of Germany since 6 May 2025. He has also served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022, leading the CDU/CSU ...

's Christian Democrats ( CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) following the 2025 German elections, Blume was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on education, research and innovation policy, led by

Karin Prien Karin Prien ( Kraus; born 26 June 1965) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving Federal Minister for Education, Family, Seniors, Woman and Youth in the government of Chancellor Friedrich M ...

Katrin Staffler Katrin Staffler ( Mair; born 4 November 1981) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria since 2017, representing the constituency of Fürstenfeldbruck. ...

and

Oliver Kaczmarek Oliver Kaczmarek (born 8 August 1970) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2009. Political career Kaczmarek first became a ...

Other activities

Corporate boards

RTL Group RTL Group S.A. ("Radio Télévision Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate office in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 56 television channels and 36 radio stations in Germany, France an ...

, Member of the Advisory Board Committee (since 2015) * KWA Kuratorium Wohnen im Alter, Member of the Supervisory Board

Non-profit organizations

* Cultural Foundation of the German States (KdL), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

Rechts der Isar Hospital The Rechts der Isar Hospital (; "Hospital to the right of the Isar") is a hospital in the Haidhausen district of Munich, Germany. It is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the TUM School of Medicine and Health. Overview ...

, Ex-Officio Chair of the Supervisory Board (since 2022) * University Hospital Erlangen, Ex-Officio Chair of the Supervisory Board (since 2022) *

Leibniz Association The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines. Funding and Structure As of 2020, 96 non-u ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Senate (since 2022) *

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) *

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria () is a Lutheran member church of the Protestant Church in Germany in the German state of Bavaria. The seat of the church is in Munich. The '' Landesbischof'' (bishop) of the church is Heinrich Bedford ...

, Member of the Synod (since 2015) * Bavarian Research Center for Interreligious Discourses (BaFID), Member of the Board of Trustees * Eugen Biser Foundation, Member of the Board of Trustees * Munich School of Public Policy (HfP), Member of the Advisory BoardAdvisory Board

Munich School of Political Science The Munich School of Politics and Public Policy (German: ''Hochschule für Politik München'') is an independent institution for political science within the Technical University of Munich. Established in 1950 by the Bavarian Parliament, the school ...

. *

Atlantik-Brücke Atlantik-Brücke (, ''Atlantic Bridge'') is a private non-profit association to Lobbying, promote German-American understanding and Atlanticism. Founded in Hamburg in 1952, it was located in Bonn between 1983 and 1999 and is now located in Berl ...

, Member

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blume, Martin Christian Social Union in Bavaria politicians 1975 births Living people Politicians from Munich