Katherina Reiche (born 16 July 1973) is a German manager and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy in the Merz cabinet of Chancellor Friedrich Merz since May 2025.
From 1998 to 2015, she was a member of the German Bundestag, serving from 2005 to 2009 as one of the deputy chairpersons of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. From 2009 to 2013, she was Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, and from 2013 to 2015, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure. In September 2015, she resigned her seat in the Bundestag.
During the election campaign in 2002, Reiche was part of the CDU/CSU's competence team appointed by then chancellor candidate Edmund Stoiber, as an expert on women, youth and family policies. This decision was criticized by conservative circles inside the two parties, because Reiche was an unmarried mother at that point in time.
From 2005 until 2009, Reiche served as deputy chairwoman of the CDU/CSU's parliamentary group, under the leadership of chairman Volker Kauder. In this capacity, she was in charge of overseeing the policy areas Education and Science as well as Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, Reiche was part of the working group on the environment, agriculture and consumer protection, led by Ilse Aigner and Michael Kauch. Koalitionsverhandlungen: Wen Union und FDP zum Feilschen schicken Spiegel Online, 6 October 2009.
On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the diplomatic relations between German and India, Reiche participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the two countries' governments in Delhi in May 2011.Günther Bannas (30 May 2011), Hoffnung auf „Eurofighter“-Geschäft: Erste deutsch-indische Regierungskonsultationen Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
From 2018 until 2019, Reiche also served on the German government's so-called coal commission, which was tasked to develop a masterplan before the end of the year on how to phase-out coal and create a new economic perspective for the country's coal-mining regions.Andreas Franke (6 June 2018), Germany launches commission tasked to develop coal exit masterplan S&P Global Platts.
In late 2019, Reiche moved to a new position at German energy company E.ON,Christof Schürmann (11 September 2019), Katherina Reiche wird Chefin der neuen E.On-Netzgesellschaft Wirtschaftswoche. where she led its subsidiary Westenergie from 2020 to 2025.Jürgen Flauger (29 September 2020), Eons neue Netzwerkerin: Katherina Reiche geht mit Westenergie an den Start Handelsblatt.
Since June 2020, she has been the Chairwoman of the National Hydrogen Council of the Federal Government.
In 2012, Reiche claimed same-sex marriage was a bigger threat to Germany than the Eurozone crisis. She was heavily criticized by LGBT groups for the remark.
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