Fuchtel first became a member of the Bundestag in the
1987 German federal election, representing the
Calw district. For several terms, he served on the Budget Committee (1994-2009) and the Audit Committee (2002-2009). In this capacity, he was his parliamentary group's
rapporteur on the
annual budget of the
Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, among others. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the German delegation to the
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) from 1991 until 2009. In Chancellor Angela Merkel's
second coalition government from 2009 to 2013, Fuchtel served (alongside
Ralf Brauksiepe) as one of two Parliamentary State Secretaries in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs under minister
Ursula von der Leyen. In addition to this role, he was appointed as the Chancellor's Personal Envoy to the German-Greek Assembly (DGV) in 2011. In the negotiations to form a
Grand Coalition of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian
CSU) and the
Social Democrats (SPD) following the
2013 federal elections, he was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on labor policy, led by von der Leyen and
Andrea Nahles. In Merkel's
third cabinet from 2013 to 2017, Fuchtel served (alongside
Thomas Silberhorn as one of two Parliamentary State Secretaries at the
Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development under minister
Gerd Müller. In the negotiations to form a
coalition government following the
2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by von der Leyen, Gerd Müller and
Sigmar Gabriel. In May 2020, Fuchtel announced that he would not stand in the
2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term. == Other activities ==