Nils Schmid | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Schmid in 2012 | |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| Assumed office 2017 | |
| Deputy Minister President of Baden-Württemberg | |
| In office 12 May 2011 – 11 May 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Winfried Kretschmann |
| Preceded by | Ulrich Goll |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Strobl |
| Minister of Finance and Economics of Baden-Württemberg | |
| In office 12 May 2011 – 11 May 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Winfried Kretschmann |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1973-07-11)11 July 1973 (age 52) Trier, West Germany |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Alma mater | University of Tübingen |
| Occupation |
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Nils Schmid (born 11 July 1973) is a German lawyer and politician of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD) has been a member of the GermanBundestag since 2017.
In addition to his parliamentary work, Schmid has been serving as aParliamentary State Secretary at theFederal Ministry of Defence in thegovernment ofChancellorFriedrich Merz since 2025.[1] From 2018 to 2025, he was the SPD parliamentary group's spokesperson for foreign affairs.
After hisAbitur at Eduard Spranger School, Filderstadt, in 1993, Schmid studied law at theUniversity of Tübingen. He worked as a lawyer, and in 2006 he received his doctorate (summa cum laude) (under the supervision ofFerdinand Kirchhof) from Tübingen University. But then he gave up his professional career in favour of politics.[2]
Schmid joined theSocial Democratic Party of Germany in 1991; and in 1993, he was already elected chairman of the Esslingen district of theYoung Socialists in the SPD, becoming deputy chairman of the Young Socialists of Baden-Württemberg in 1996.
In the1996 state elections Schmid became a member of theState Parliament of Baden-Württemberg. There he gradually developed into his party's main speaker on financial affairs. He was elected deputy leader of his parliamentary group.
In 2009, Schmid succeededUte Vogt and became the leader of his party in Baden-Württemberg after winning an internal poll among its members. Together withBarbara Hendricks,Hannelore Kraft,Heiko Maas andManuela Schwesig, he co-chaired the SPD's 2010 national convention in Berlin.[3]
After the2011 state elections, lying only one parliamental seat behind the Greens, Schmid became Deputy Minister-President as well as Minister of Financial and Economic Affairs in the government of Minister-PresidentWinfried Kretschmann of Baden-Württemberg.[4] In this capacity, he was also a member of the German-French Friendship Group set up by theGerman Bundesrat and theFrench Senate as well as of the German-Russian Friendship Group set up in cooperation with theRussian Federation Council.
In the negotiations to form agrand coalition following the2013 federal elections, Schmid was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on economic policy, led byIlse Aigner andHubertus Heil.
Following his party's loss in the2016 state elections, Schmid's term in government ended in May 2016; he was succeeded byNicole Hoffmeister-Kraut. Later that year, he announced that he would run in the2017 national elections.[5]
Schmid has been a member of the GermanBundestag since September 2017, representingNürtingen. He serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, where he is the SPD parliamentary group's spokesperson. Since 2019, he has been a member of the German delegation to theFranco-German Parliamentary Assembly.[6]
In the negotiations to form a so-calledtraffic light coalition of the SPD, theGreen Party and theFree Democratic Party (FDP) following the2021 federal elections, Schmid was part of his party's delegation in the working group on foreign policy, defence, development cooperation and human rights, co-chaired byHeiko Maas,Omid Nouripour andAlexander Graf Lambsdorff.[7] In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalition under the leadership ofFriedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the BavarianCSU) and the SPD following the2025 German elections, she was again part of the SPD delegation in the working group on foreign affairs, defense, development cooperation and human rights, this time led byJohann Wadephul,Florian Hahn andSvenja Schulze.[8]
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