From 1986 until 1987, Rachel worked as parliamentary assistant to Matthias Wissmann.
Political career
Rachel first became a member of the Bundestag in the 1994 German federal election.[1] From 1994 until 2005, he served on the Committee for Education, Research and Technology Assessment. In addition to his committee assignments, he also served as deputy chairman of the German-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group from 1997 until 2005.
In the negotiations to form a "grand coalition" of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Rachel was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on education and research policy. In similar negotiations following the 2017 federal elections, he was again part of the working group on education policy.[citation needed]
Since 2021, Rachel has been serving on the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development.[2]
In June 2017, Rachel voted against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.[8]
In 2019, Rachel joined 14 members of his parliamentary group who, in an open letter, called for the party to rally around Merkel and party chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer amid criticism voiced by conservatives Friedrich Merz and Roland Koch.[9]