Rachel first became a member of the Bundestag in the
1994 German federal election. 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 and 2021 until 2024. Since 2025 he is the chairman of the German-Greek parliamentary group. Since 2003, Rachel has been chairing the
Evangelical Working Group of the CDU/CSU (EAK). From the
2005 elections until today, Rachel served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the
Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the government of
Chancellor Angela Merkel, under the leadership of successive ministers
Annette Schavan (2005–2013,
Johanna Wanka (2013–2018) and
Anja Karliczek (2018–2021). 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. From 2021until today, Rachel served on the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development. He has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs since 2025. In the negotiations to form a
coalition government of the CDU and
Green Party under
Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst following the
2022 state elections, Rachel was part of his party’s delegation in the working group on science, digitization and innovation. ==Other activities==