Stefan Gruhner (born 23 October 1984) is a German politician from the

Christian Democratic Union of Germany The Christian Democratic Union of Germany ( , CDU ) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right in German politics. Friedrich Merz has been federal chairman of the CDU since 31 ...

. He was state chairman of the

Young Union The Junge Union Deutschlands (English: Young Union of Germany) or JU is the joint youth organisation of the CDU/CSU coalition in Germany. Membership is limited to individuals between 14 and 35 years of age. The Junge Union claims to be the large ...

in the state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

from 2010 to 2019. From 2014 to 2019 he was a member of the

Landtag of Thuringia The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 88 members from five parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag ...

. Since December 2024 he has been and Minister for Federal and European Affairs, Sport and Voluntary Work in the

Voigt cabinet The Voigt cabinet is the current state government of Thuringia, sworn in on 12 December 2024 May after Mario Voigt was elected as List of minister-presidents of Thuringia, Minister-President of Thuringia by the Landtag of Thuringia. It is the 11th ...

Life and career

After graduating from the in

Schleiz Schleiz () is a town in the Districts of Germany, district of Saale-Orla-Kreis in Thuringia, Germany. The former municipality Crispendorf was merged into Schleiz in January 2019, and Burgk in December 2019. Location Schleiz is in the Thuring ...

in 2003, Gruhner completed his military service with the 722nd Pioneer Battalion in

Gera Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...

from 2003 to 2004. He then began studying politics and history at the Friedrich Schiller

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

, which he completed with the state examination in 2010. During his studies, he joined the fraternity. In addition, he completed a degree at the in 2016/17 and graduated with a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

(MBA). From 2010 to 2013 he was a consultant for political issues at the in Thuringia. From August 2013, until his election to the Thuringian state parliament, he was the personal advisor to Thuringian Prime Minister

Christine Lieberknecht Christine Lieberknecht (born Determann 7 May 1958 in Weimar) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 2009 to 2014, she served as the Minister President of Thuringia. Lieberknecht was the first woman to become head ...

in the Thuringian State Chancellery. From January 2020 to 2022, Gruhner worked as head of the staff unit "Future of the People's Party/Federal-State Coordination/International Party Relations" in the federal office of the CDU. From 2022 to 2023 he was a Federal Council consultant at the . From March 2023 to December 2024 he was parliamentary group manager of the CDU parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament.

Political career

Gruhner joined the

Junge Union The Junge Union Deutschlands (English: Young Union of Germany) or JU is the joint youth organisation of the CDU/CSU coalition in Germany. Membership is limited to individuals between 14 and 35 years of age. The Junge Union claims to be the large ...

in 1999 and the CDU in 2002. From 2006 to 2010 he was a member of the federal executive board of the Junge Union Deutschlands. He became CDU district chairman in the

Saale-Orla-Kreis Saale-Orla is a ''Kreis'' (Districts of Germany, district) in the east of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Saale-Holzland, Greiz (district), Greiz, the Vogtlandkreis in Saxony, the Bavarian dist ...

in 2009 and was state chairman of the Junge Union from 2010 to 2019. Gruhner has been a member of the Saale-Orla district council since 2004. From 2009 to 2012, he chaired the district council committee for education, culture and sport; in 2012, he became chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In the

2014 Thuringian state election The 2014 Thuringian state election was held on 14 September 2014 to elect the members of the 6th Landtag of Thuringia. The government prior to the election was a grand coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party ...

, he won the direct mandate in the Saale-Orla-Kreis I constituency and was elected to the

. From 2018 to 2019, he was chairman of the International Commission of the Young Union of Germany for Foreign, European and Security Policy. Stefan Gruhner CDU

Since November 2018 he has been deputy chairman of the

International Young Democrat Union The International Young Democracy Union (IYDU) is a global alliance of centre-right political youth organisations and the youth wing of the International Democrat Union. The IYDU in its current form was founded in March 1991 in Washington, D. ...

. In January 2019 he announced his candidacy for the federal chairmanship of the Junge Union as successor to

Paul Ziemiak Paul Ziemiak (born 6 September 1985 as ''Paweł Ziemiak'') is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2017 federal election. In addition to his par ...

. In the election at the extraordinary party congress on 16 March he was defeated by

Tilman Kuban Tilman Moritz Kuban (born 26 May 1987) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2021. He was also the chairman of the CDU’s youth organisation, the Young Unio ...

. In the

2019 Thuringian state election The 2019 Thuringian state election was held on 27 October 2019 to elect the members of the 7th Landtag of Thuringia. The outgoing government was a coalition consisting of The Left, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and The Greens, led by Minis ...

, Gruhner lost the direct mandate in his constituency Saale-Orla-Kreis I to the

AfD Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...

candidate ; his party's

state list The State List or List-II is a list of 61 items. Initially there were 66 items in the list in Schedule Seven to the Constitution of India. The legislative section is divided into three lists: the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent Lis ...

was not considered due to the number of direct mandates. Since December 2024 he has been and Minister for Federal and European Affairs, Sport and Voluntary Work in the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruhner, Stefan Living people 1984 births People from Schleiz Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Members of the Landtag of Thuringia 21st-century German politicians Members of Young Union Government ministers of Germany University of Jena alumni