Career in state politics Czaja entered the CDU in 1993 and became member of the
State Parliament of Berlin in the
1999 state elections. He served as his parliamentary group's spokesperson on health policy from 2001 until 2011. From 2011 to 2016 Czaja was also member of the
Senate of Berlin, the government body of Berlin, with responsibility for health care and social issues. At the time, he was the youngest member of the state government led by
Governing Mayor Michael Müller. In 2012, Czaja – together fellow state ministers
Frank Henkel and
Thomas Heilmann – unsuccessfully advocated for a reduction in the penalty-free
personal use of cannabis from 15 to six grams. Also during his time in office, he appointed former state government members
Eberhard Diepgen,
Heidi Knake-Werner,
Ingrid Stahmer and
Wolfgang Wieland as advisors on the city's migration policies in 2014. In 2016, Czaja cancelled the government's contract with one of the city's largest operators of hostels for asylum seekers after newspapers
B.Z. and
Bild printed internal emails showing the company's managers joking about building a guillotine and crematorium for refugee children. Czaja was a CDU delegate to the
Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the
President of Germany in
2017. From 2018 until 2021, Czaja served as his parliamentary group's deputy chair, under the leadership of Burkard Dregger. During that time, he was also a member of the Committee on Education, Youth and Families.
Member of the German Parliament, 2021–present Czaja won the
Berlin-Marzahn-Hellersdorf district in the
2021 German federal election – a seat held by members of the
PDS or
The Left since the
1990 German federal election (the first to be held in East Berlin). Ahead of the Christian Democrats' leadership election in 2022, Czaja publicly endorsed
Friedrich Merz to succeed Laschet as the party's chair and joined his campaign team. == Other activities ==