Federal Minister of Health · since 29 July 2026
Economy → Work → Social Security → Health → Reform
Historical office · July 2023 – July 2026
For three years Carsten Linnemann ran the CDU’s federal headquarters. In that time the party adopted a new basic programme, won the February 2025 federal election, negotiated a coalition with the SPD and pushed through the replacement of Bürgergeld — before he left party office to become Federal Minister of Health.
The second most visible post in the party — part manager, part campaign chief, part chief spokesperson.
The Secretary-General (Generalsekretär) is proposed by the party chair and elected by the federal party congress. He or she directs the federal party headquarters, the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus in Berlin, with its departments for organisation, campaigns, communications and policy planning. The Secretary-General sits in the presidium and the federal executive and, in election years, is responsible for running the national campaign.
Two features of the role are important for understanding Linnemann’s tenure. First, it is a party office, not a parliamentary or government one: its resources come from the party, and its task is to win elections and hold the organisation together. Second, the Secretary-General is traditionally the party’s sharpest public voice — expected to attack opponents and sharpen positions so that the chair can appear statesmanlike. Several of Linnemann’s most criticised statements fall into that pattern.
Merz appointed Linnemann in July 2023, replacing Mario Czaja; the Konrad Adenauer Foundation gives 12 July 2023 as the date. At the 36th federal party congress in May 2024 the delegates confirmed him with 91.37% of the votes, according to the Foundation.
Every figure is taken from an official or primary source.
On the March 2026 vote: the Bundestag’s recorded vote shows 320 in favour; some summaries report 321. This page follows the Bundestag text archive.
Merz brings in his deputy chair and programme-commission chair to run the party headquarters, with the CDU in opposition.
The 36th party congress in Berlin adopts “In Freiheit leben. Deutschland sicher in die Zukunft führen”, drafted under his chairmanship of the programme commission, and confirms him in office.
In an interview with the Funke newspapers he says a six-figure number of Bürgergeld recipients are fundamentally unwilling to work and should lose benefits entirely; welfare organisations and unions dispute the figure (see below).
The federal executive adopts the CDU’s economic programme for the snap election in Hamburg.
The CDU/CSU comes first with 28.6% of second votes. Linnemann wins Paderborn with 45.5% of first votes.
Announces he will remain Secretary-General instead of joining the government.
Coalition agreement signed on 5 May; Merz elected chancellor in the second ballot on 6 May. Linnemann becomes deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in May.
Speaks for the group; the package passes the Bundestag.
The replacement of Bürgergeld passes; it takes effect in stages from 1 July 2026.
Franziska Hoppermann is elected Secretary-General; two days later Linnemann becomes Federal Minister of Health.
Three tasks of the headquarters and how they were approached in 2023–2026.
On declining a ministry in April 2025, Linnemann explained that he and his colleagues had worked hard over three years to rebuild the CDU, that the process was not yet complete and that he wanted to continue it (ZDF, translated). The statement shows how he saw the job: less as a springboard than as a project of internal renewal after the 2021 defeat, the party’s worst result to that date.
His public style favoured short, plain-language slogans: “performance must pay again”, Fördern und Fordern, and the call to “just get on with it” (einfach mal machen), which is also the name of a podcast he hosts (single source). Supporters saw clarity; critics saw simplification, particularly in debates on welfare recipients.
The 2024 basic programme and the 2025 Agenda 2030 gave the campaign a documented base — something the party had lacked in 2021. The programme process, which he led from 2022, involved the membership in drafting. Details are on the CDU leadership page.
The snap election followed the collapse of the SPD-Green-FDP coalition in November 2024. As Secretary-General, Linnemann was responsible for the CDU campaign.
SourceFederal Returning Officer, final result. CDU 22.6% + CSU 6.0%; many outlets round the union total to 28.5%.
The CDU/CSU became the strongest force and the basis of the next government. Measured against its own ambitions and against polling earlier in the campaign, the result was nonetheless seen by many commentators as modest: it was the union’s second-weakest result in a federal election, ahead only of 2021, while the AfD doubled its share.
The campaign’s economic message — growth, tax relief for middle incomes, lower energy prices, less bureaucracy — came directly from the Agenda 2030. Migration became the other dominant theme, especially in the final weeks, and the CDU/CSU’s handling of it was the subject of intense controversy that this page does not attempt to adjudicate.
In his own constituency Linnemann received 45.5% of first votes, 2.4 points less than in 2021, but more than twice the share of the runner-up. See the constituency page.
The CDU, CSU and SPD signed their coalition agreement, Verantwortung für Deutschland (“Responsibility for Germany”), in Berlin on 5 May 2025. At 144 pages it covered the economy, migration, social policy, defence and health. Friedrich Merz was elected chancellor the following day in the second ballot. According to Merz, Linnemann handled the health sector in the coalition negotiations — a point he cited when appointing him health minister fourteen months later.
On 15 April 2025, before the cabinet was named, Linnemann announced that he would not join the government. ZDF reported that he had been tipped for the economy ministry and had reportedly wanted labour and social affairs, which went to the SPD under the coalition deal. He chose to remain Secretary-General, explaining that the rebuilding of the CDU was not yet complete. The Pharmazeutische Zeitung later recalled his remark that being a minister was not worth it just to have it appear on Wikipedia (paraphrase).
In May 2025 he additionally became a deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, responsible for labour and social affairs, employees, sport and volunteering — giving the party headquarters a direct line into the group’s handling of the coalition’s main social-policy projects.
„…die CDU wieder aufzubauen. Dieser Prozess ist noch nicht abgeschlossen.“
Presented as positions he advanced on behalf of the CDU — not as objective assessments — together with the main criticism.
01
At least 2% growth; four-step income-tax reform with the top rate from €80,000; electricity at least 5 ct/kWh cheaper (Agenda 2030). Relief for the middle class as the core.
Opponents and several economists questioned the financing of the tax cuts and the realism of the growth target.
Partly reflected in the 2025 coalition agreement; see growth and competitiveness.
02
A weekly instead of a daily maximum working time; “performance must pay”, including for older people; the Aktivrente allowing tax-free earnings for those working beyond pension age.
Objections raised in public debate included the risk that a weekly limit weakens health protection at work, and that the Aktivrente benefits mainly those physically able to keep working.
Aktivrente adopted as part of the pension package on 5 December 2025. See work and performance.
03
Replace Bürgergeld with a new basic income support system based on Fördern und Fordern, priority on job placement, tougher consequences for refusing work.
Welfare associations, unions, Greens and the Left argued that the reform stigmatised recipients and that the number of “total refusers” was small.
Neue Grundsicherung passed on 5 March 2026; phased entry into force from 1 July 2026.
04
In the March 2026 debate he framed the aim as immigration into the labour market rather than into the social systems (Bundestag summary).
Critics argued that linking migration to welfare abuse fuels prejudice; earlier, his co-edited 2019 book on political Islam was criticised by some reviewers for right-populist tones.
A contested field throughout his tenure; see political positions.
05
Fewer reporting and documentation duties for firms and professionals; a recurring theme since his MIT years.
A common objection is that some of what is labelled bureaucracy protects consumers, workers or the environment, so cuts need case-by-case scrutiny.
Continued as minister, e.g. the announced bureaucracy-reduction law for the health sector. See bureaucracy reduction.
The policy most associated with his tenure, traced step by step.
Linnemann argued that the welfare state was “no longer fair in some places” — „Der Sozialstaat ist an einigen Stellen nicht mehr gerecht“ — towards those who finance it.
Abolishing Bürgergeld in its existing form became a central CDU demand in the 2025 campaign.
The coalition agreement of May 2025 committed the CDU/CSU and SPD to a new basic income support system.
15 January 2026: Linnemann speaks of a fair system and a return to support-and-obligation with priority on placement.
5 March 2026: passed with 320 votes to 268, with 2 abstentions.
Takes effect in stages from 1 July 2026, administered by job centres.
„Wir müssen alles dafür tun, Menschen wieder in Arbeit zu bringen, anstatt Arbeitslosigkeit zu verwalten.“
In an interview with the Funke media group, Linnemann said that a six-figure number of Bürgergeld recipients were fundamentally unwilling to work and that their benefits should be cut entirely.
Those who can work but refuse should not be supported by the community; the system must be fair to those who pay for it.
Diakonie president Rüdiger Schuch called his figures simply false, pointing to Federal Employment Agency data showing fewer than 1% are total refusers. DGB board member Anja Piel cited constitutional limits and spoke of a contemptuous attitude; Christian Bäumler of the CDU’s employee wing also objected.
Supporters argued that even a small number of refusals undermines acceptance of the system, and that sanctions are needed as a signal.
The 2026 reform tightened rules for refusing work; constitutional limits on full benefit withdrawal remain a subject of legal debate. See criticism and controversies.
A cabinet reshuffle triggered by a change at the top of the parliamentary group.
Jens Spahn steps down as chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group; ZDF reports the controversy over his use of surrogacy in the US and the late communication about it as the cause. (One secondary source gives 18 July; not independently verified.)
Merz and Söder propose the head of the Chancellery, Thorsten Frei, as the new group chair.
Merz announces that Health Minister Nina Warken will head the Chancellery and that Linnemann will become Federal Minister of Health.
On Merz’s proposal, the federal executive unanimously elects Franziska Hoppermann, a Bundestag member from Hamburg — the third woman in the post after Angela Merkel and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Linnemann’s tenure ends.
Federal President Steinmeier appoints Linnemann Federal Minister of Health; the oath before the Bundestag follows on 8 September 2026.
Both columns summarise arguments made in public debate; neither is the site’s verdict.