In the negotiations to form a "Grand Coalition" of Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats following the 2013 federal elections, Braun was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on education and research policy, led by Johanna Wanka and Doris Ahnen. Merkel subsequently appointed him as Parliamentary Secretary of State for Bureaucracy Reduction and Federal-State Relations, serving directly under her in the Federal Chancellery. In that capacity, he was one of the officials co-ordinating Germany’s response to the European migrant crisis in 2015.