Early career

Friedrich began his national political career as an aide to Michael Glos, a senior CSU official in parliament.^[4]

Friedrich has been a member of the Bundestag since the 1998 federal elections,.^[4] He was deputy chairman of the investigating committee for party donations from 1999 until 2002 and for electoral fraud from 2002 until 2004. From 2002 until 2005 he was also judicial counselor of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.

Following the 2005 federal elections, when his party joined a Grand Coalition with Angela Merkel as Chancellor, Friedrich became deputy chairman of the parliamentary group under the leadership of Volker Kauder, covering the portfolio of housing and development.^[5] Between 2007 and 2009, he was one of 32 members of the Second Commission on the modernization of the federal state, which had been established to reform the division of powers between federal and state authorities in Germany.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2009 federal elections, Friedrich led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on transport and building policies; his co-chair from the FDP was Patrick Döring.

From 2009, Friedrich led the CSU in parliament, replacing Peter Ramsauer. During that time, he was said to have enjoyed a good relationship with Merkel and to have often sided with national interests over Bavarian ones.^[3] Economic policy was widely seen as his passion as he has supported raising the retirement age to 67 despite opposition from CSU leader Horst Seehofer.^[3] He also played a behind-the-scenes part in crafting Germany's response to the euro zone crisis.^[3]

Federal Minister of the Interior, 2011-2013

On 3 March 2011 Friedrich succeeded Thomas de Maizière as Federal Minister of the Interior^[1] who replaced Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. The fact that Friedrich, like Guttenberg, came from the northern Bavarian area of Upper Franconia meant that his appointment ensured the regional balance of power within the CSU was maintained.^[3]

On the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the diplomatic relations between German and India, Friedrich participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the two countries’ governments in Delhi in May 2011.^[6] On 7 June 2011 he attended the state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama in honor of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House.^[7]

European integration

In early 2012, Friedrich became Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first Cabinet member to suggest Greece’s exit from the euro. In an interview with Der Spiegel, he said Greece would have better chances of overhauling its economy and restoring growth if it left the euro area.^[8]

In late 2012, Friedrich called for the immediate suspension of the visa-free regime for Serbia and Macedonia after more than 7,000 citizens of the two countries applied for asylum in Germany within one year.^[9]

Surveillance

In the wake of the US National Security Agency's (NSA) internet surveillance scandal around PRISM in 2013, Friedrich was long perceived as not particularly devoted to investigating the full scope of NSA spying activities in Germany.^[10] Instead, he defended the NSA's methods and promptly demanded legislation changes, in order to be able to expand surveillance of communication traffic by the German Bundesnachrichtendienst as well.^[11] In an effort to point out how valuable information provided by the NSA can be for Germany, he argued that forty-five terror attacks had been prevented by the Prism program, including five in Germany; however, he soon back-peddled, unable to pinpoint the five instances.^[12] In a later interview with Münchner Merkur newspaper, Friedrich held that Edward Snowden was not a victim of political persecution.^[13]

Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, 2013

In the negotiations to form a so-called Grand Coalition following the 2013 federal elections, Friedrich led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on internal affairs and justice; his co-chair from the SPD was Thomas Oppermann.

Friedrich was sworn in as Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture in the third cabinet of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel on 17 December 2013. He resigned on 14 February 2014,^[14] reacting to imminent legal investigations into incidents during his tenure as Federal Minister of the Interior. He is accused of betraying state secrets about legal investigations into Social Democrat Party (SPD) heads during the coalition negotiations after the federal elections in 2013. Prosecutors complained that the leak may have compromised their inquiry.^[15] The investigations showed MP Sebastian Edathy's link to a globally-operating child pornography syndicate,^[16] and plans to take up an investigation against Edathy on suspicion of possessing such material.^[14]

Vice-President of the German Bundestag, 2017–2021

Following the 2017 elections, Friedrich was elected as one of the vice presidents of the German Parliament, under the leadership of President Wolfgang Schäuble. In this capacity, he also joined the parliament's Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation.

In 2020, Friedrich co-founded the “China-Bridge” initiative, a non-profit networking association to strengthen links between Germany and China.^[17][18]

Corporate boards

• Friedrich-Baur-GmbH, Member of the Advisory Board
• Münchener Verein, Member of the Supervisory Board

Non-profit organizations

• German Association for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW), Member of the Political Advisory Board
• Atlantik-Brücke, Member^[19]
• German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Member
• Foundation for Family Businesses, Member of the Board of Trustees^[20]
• German-Hungarian Youth Office, Member of the Board of Trustees
• Ostbayerisches Technologie-Transfer-Institut (OTTI), Member of the Advisory Board
• Stiftung Datenschutz, Member of the Strategic Advisory Board^[21]
• Rotary International, Member