Nicolas Schmit

Nicolas Schmit
Nicolas Schmit
	Schmit in 2023
European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 1 December 2019
President	Ursula von der Leyen
Preceded by	Marianne Thyssen
Member of the European Parliament; for Luxembourg
	In office; 1 July 2019 – 30 November 2019
Succeeded by	Marc Angel
Minister of Labour, Employment and Social and Solidarity Economy
	In office; 23 July 2009 – 5 December 2018
Prime Minister	Jean-Claude Juncker; Xavier Bettel
Preceded by	François Biltgen
Succeeded by	Dan Kersch
Personal details
Born	10 December 1953 (age 70); Differdange, Luxembourg
Political party	Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
Other political; affiliations	Party of European Socialists
Children	4
Education	Sciences Po Aix; Aix-Marseille University

Nicolas Schmit (born 10 December 1953) is a Luxembourgish politician serving as European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights since 2019. A member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), he was the EU-wide Spitzenkandidat of the centre-left PES at the 2024 EU elections. He was previously a member of the government of Luxembourg from 2004 to 2019 and a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2019.

Early life and education

Schmit studied economics in France at the Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence.

Career

In 1979, Schmit started his political and diplomatic career as an attaché in the Prime Minister's office in Luxembourg, followed by the Foreign Ministry. In 1989, he became Secretary to the LSAP's delegation in the Chamber of Deputies. He was appointed to the Council of State on 29 October 1991, replacing René Grégorius.^[1]

In 2004, Schmit was appointed to the first Juncker-Asselborn Government as Minister-Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, working under Jean Asselborn as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

After the 2009 election, in which Schmit was elected for the Est constituency as the sole LSAP deputy,^[2] he did not take his seat but was reappointed to the government. He was promoted to the office of Minister of Labour, Employment and Immigration of Luxembourg. He is the chairman of the EPSCO network of the Party of European Socialists.^[3]

Since the 2019 European elections, Schmit has been a Member of the European Parliament, where he belongs to the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group. He has since been serving on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.

Controversy

In January 2011, Xavier Bettel claimed that Schmit exerted undue influence on the Grand Ducal Police to drop charges against his 18-year-old son the previous month. Schmit denied that his assistance of his son amounted to undue influence, saying that his "conscience is clear".^[4]

Personal life

He is married and has four children.^[5]

Footnotes

^ "Membres depuis 1857" (in French). Council of State. Archived from the original on 3 November 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
^ "2009: Circonscription Est" (in French). Service Information et Presse. 7 April 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
^ "PES ministers determined to push for more Social Europe". The Party of European Socialists. 17 July 2017.
^ "Drohungen auf dem Polizeibüro?". Luxemburger Wort (in German). 18 January 2011. Archived from the original on 23 January 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
^ Schock, Pol (13 September 2019). "Ein Mann will nach oben". Lëtzebuerger Land.