Chronology · NW–06
1979 to 2026
Forty-seven years in four eras. The bar below is drawn roughly to scale — each segment’s width follows the number of years it covers, with the shortest widened so it stays legible. It shows how much of the public record is concentrated in the last two years.
Dates are taken from the Federal Government CV, Bundestag biographies and disclosures, official ministry and Bundestag publications and named media reports, listed at the end of the page. Where only a year is documented, only a year is given.
1979–2005
Education + law
From the Tauber valley to Heidelberg and back to a court in the neighbouring district. The first political memberships and the first council seat fall inside the years of legal training. Education · Early life
Born in Bad Mergentheim
In the Main-Tauber district of north-eastern Baden-Württemberg.
Abitur
Matthias-Grünewald-Gymnasium, Tauberbischofsheim.
Law studies
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.
Joins the Junge Union
Member until 2014.
Joins the CDU
Party member since 2000.
First State Examination in Law
Followed by the legal traineeship at the Regional Court in Mosbach, 2003–2005.
Elected to Tauberbischofsheim town council
Beginning of twenty years of municipal office.
Second State Examination in Law
Qualification for judicial office and all regulated legal professions.
2006–2012
Professional + political development
A short era with few dated events but steady work on three levels at once: legal practice, the town council and the national leadership of the Junge Union. Legal career · Political beginnings
Admitted as a lawyer
Work in medium-sized law firms; the fields named in her Bundestag biography include administrative and social law. Before entering the Bundestag she practised with a firm in Tauberbischofsheim.
Deputy federal chair of the Junge Union
Held until 2014 — a national party role that began seven years before her first Bundestag mandate.
Council work continues
Throughout this era she sits on the Tauberbischofsheim municipal council, where she remained until 23 July 2024.
2013–2024
Parliament + party + THW
Two Bundestag entries, a direct mandate, parliamentary group management and the general secretaryship of the state party — alongside eight years at the head of the THW helpers' association in Baden-Württemberg. Bundestag career · CDU leadership · THW leadership
First Bundestag mandate
Elected via the CDU's Baden-Württemberg state list into the 18th Bundestag. Committees include Internal Affairs and the NSA committee of inquiry, where she is the group's spokesperson.
Main-Tauber district council
Member of the Kreistag until 2019. Her Junge Union membership and deputy federal chair both end in 2014.
President, THW-Landesvereinigung Baden-Württemberg
Honorary president of the state helpers' association supporting the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, until 2 December 2023.
Roll-call vote on marriage for same-sex couples
The Bundestag's published roll call records her vote against the bill, which passed with 393 votes in favour.
First term ends
She does not return to the 19th Bundestag at the September 2017 election.
Return to the Bundestag
Succeeds Stephan Harbarth, who left parliament for the Federal Constitutional Court. Member of the interior and legal-affairs committees; deputy chair of the car-toll committee of inquiry.
District roles end
Kreistag membership and the supervisory-board seat at the Main-Tauber transport company end with the 2019 local elections.
Direct mandate, Odenwald–Tauber
Wins Wahlkreis 276 and becomes a Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU group, a role held until 2025.
Judicial Appointments Committee
Elected by the Bundestag as a member of the committee for the selection of federal supreme-court judges.
Secretary General, CDU Baden-Württemberg
Under state chair Manuel Hagel, until 2025.
Changes in honorary roles
Deputy supervisory-board seat at the Tauberbischofsheim urban-development company ends (3 May); administrative council of Johannes-Diakonie Mosbach (from 10 July); board of trustees of the Theodor Heuss House Foundation (from 20 November); THW presidency ends (2 December).
Leaves the town council
After twenty years; her seat on the board of the Bürgerstiftung Tauberbischofsheim ends the same day.
2025–2026
Federal government
Fourteen months as Federal Minister of Health, then the move to the Federal Chancellery. Health-policy entries belong to the former ministerial office; entries from 29 July 2026 to the current one. Health Ministry · Chancellery
Re-elected in Odenwald–Tauber
Constituency mandate in the 21st Bundestag. In the coalition negotiations that follow she sits in the working group on domestic policy, law and migration.
Federal Minister of Health
Appointed in the cabinet of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, succeeding Karl Lauterbach.
Legal practice suspended
As required for members of the federal government.
EPSCO Council, Luxembourg
Attends the EU health ministers' meeting.
Federal chair of the Frauen Union
Elected at the delegates' conference in Reutlingen; thereby a member of the CDU federal executive.
Sudhof report dispute
The ministry passes a redacted version of the special investigator's report on COVID-19 mask procurement to the Bundestag; the opposition criticises the redactions, she defends them. The report later becomes public unredacted.
Budget speech, first reading
On the 2026 health budget: per-capita health spending of around €6,000, more than doubled in two decades.
Electronic patient record becomes mandatory for providers
A phase of the opt-out ePA, prepared before her tenure, takes effect.
Bundestag passes the Pflegekompetenzgesetz
Expanded powers for nursing professionals; Bundesrat 19 December 2025; in force 1 January 2026.
2026 health budget adopted
Her speech in the final debate.
Agenda for 2026
Seven priority themes reported, from health-finance reform to emergency care and a health security law.
Health Security Act outlined
In a newspaper interview and in government question time in the Bundestag.
Bundestag passes the KHAG
The adjustment of the hospital reform; Bundesrat 27 March; in force April 2026.
Medical Registers Act, first reading
Government bill (Drucksache 21/5922 of 13 May 2026) introduced with her speech; referred to the Health Committee.
GKV contribution-rate stabilisation act passed
318 votes to 284, with 4 abstentions; savings of around €19 billion; strong criticism from opposition and health organisations.
Reshuffle announced
Chancellor Merz names her Head of the Federal Chancellery, succeeding Thorsten Frei.
Appointment
Federal Minister for Special Tasks and Head of the Federal Chancellery; certificates presented by Federal President Steinmeier.
Munich Security Conference foundation
Honorary member of the foundation council, according to her Bundestag disclosure.
New ministers sworn in
The Bundestag swears in Carsten Linnemann and Steffen Bilger under Article 64(2) of the Basic Law; Warken, already a sworn cabinet member, takes no new oath.
Reform commitments reported
Media report that, as Head of the Chancellery, she reaffirmed the government's intention to proceed with planned social reforms.
Sources & further reading
- Federal Government — Nina Warken, curriculum vitae
- German Bundestag — biography and disclosures, 21st term
- German Bundestag — archived biography, 19th term
- German Bundestag — archived biography, 20th term
- German Bundestag — roll-call vote of 30 June 2017
- German Bundestag — election of the Judicial Appointments Committee, January 2022
- ZDFheute — redactions in the mask-procurement report
- Federal Ministry of Health — budget speech, first reading, 23 September 2025
- Federal Ministry of Health — 2026 budget adopted, 27 November 2025
- Federal Ministry of Health — interview, Welt am Sonntag, 15 February 2026
- German Bundestag — Medical Registers Act, first reading
- Federal Ministry of Health — GKV stabilisation act passed, 10 July 2026
- Deutsches Ärzteblatt — cabinet changes, 24 July 2026
- German Bundestag — government reshuffle, July 2026