Axel Helmut Schäfer (born 3 August 1952) is a German politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD). Born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, he served as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

from 2002 to 2025.

Early life and career

After attending elementary school in 1959, he transferred to high school in 1963, graduating in 1968. In the same year, he began vocational training in the public service, which included both vocational school and a training institute. Subsequently, he participated in further education at

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...

from 1981 to 1982 to deepen his knowledge and skills. He began his professional career in 1968 in the city administration of Frankfurt am Main before moving to the city administration of

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

in 1972. From 1983 to 1984, he served as the head of the European election office in the SPD party headquarters, where he gained significant experience in the political arena under the leadership of

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

. Following this, he took over as head of the European office in the SPD district of Western Westphalia from 1984 to 1994, where he played a key role in shaping and implementing European policy issues.

Political career

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–1999

Following the

1994 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1994. Africa * 1994 Botswana general election * 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election * 1994 Malawian general election * 1994 Mozambican general election * 1994 Namibian general election * 1994 South Afr ...

, Schäfer served as a one-term

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

. During his time in parliament, he was a member of the Committee on Institutional Affairs and the parliament's delegation to the EU-Poland Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Member of the German Parliament, 2002–2025

Schäfer first became a member of the Bundestag in the

2002 German federal election The 2002 German federal election was held in Germany on 22 September 2002 to elect the members of the 15th Bundestag. Incumbent Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's centre-left "red-green" governing coalition retained a narrow majority, and the Social ...

. He was a member of the Committee on European Union Affairs. Schäfer led the Bundestag group of SPD parliamentarians from

, the largest delegation within the party's parliamentary group from 2005 until 2013. From 2010 until 2017, he served as deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of successive chairpersons

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician who has served as President of Germany since 2017. He was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), federal minister for foreign affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again f ...

(2010–2013),

Thomas Oppermann Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann (27 April 195425 October 2020) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From October 2017 until his death he served as Vice President of the Bundestag. In his earlier career, he serv ...

(2013–2017) and

Andrea Nahles Andrea Maria Nahles (born 20 June 1970) is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022. Nahles is best known for having served as leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from April ...

(2017). In the negotiations to form a ''

Grand Coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

'' of

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

's Christian Democrats ( CDU together with the Bavarian

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

) and the SPD following the 2013 German elections, Schäfer was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on banking regulation and the

Eurozone The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...

, led by

Herbert Reul Herbert Reul (born 31 August 1952) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as State Minister for Internal Affairs in the government of successive Ministers-President Armin Laschet (2017–2021) and H ...

and

Martin Schulz Martin Schulz (born 20 December 1955) is a German politician who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) from 2017 to 2021. During his tenure he was Leader of the Progress ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, Schäfer chaired the German-Italian Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2018 to 2025. Also in 2018, he joined the German delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

(PACE). In the Assembly, he served on the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee); the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media; and the Sub-Committee on Conflicts between Council of Europe Member States. Alongside Ria Oomen-Ruijten, he was the Assembly’s co-rapporteur on

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. In October 2024, Schäfer announced that he would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.

Other activities

* German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member * IG BCE, Member *

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

, Member

Political positions

Within his parliamentary group, Schäfer belongs to the Parliamentary Left, a left-wing movement. Following

’ resignation as chairwoman of the SPD in 2019, Schäfer proposed

Manuela Schwesig Manuela Schwesig (; ' Frenzel, born 23 May 1974) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party serving as List of Ministers-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpomm ...

and Stefan Weil as new leaders. Ahead of the party’s 2019 leadership election, he publicly endorsed

Olaf Scholz Olaf Scholz (; born 14 June 1958) is a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Ge ...

and

Franziska Giffey Franziska Giffey (, Süllke, born 3 May 1978) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who is serving as Berlin State Senator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise since 2023. She served as Governing Mayor of Berlin from December ...

as potential chairpersons. Amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained ...

, Schäfer supported legislation requiring all adults to be vaccinated. Following the

2025 elections 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

, Schäfer endorsed

Bärbel Bas Bärbel Bas (; born 3 May 1968) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz since 2025. She previously served ...

as candidate to succeed

Saskia Esken Saskia Christina Esken (' Hofer; born 28 August 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as co-leader of the party since being 2019 Social Democratic Party of Ger ...

as co-chair of the SPD.Daniel Friedrich Sturm (24 February 2025)
Wie weiter nach der Bundestagswahl? SPD-Politiker bringen Bärbel Bas als Parteichefin ins Gespräch
�''

Der Tagesspiegel (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington, D.C., and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, since reunificati ...

''.

References

External links

*
Bundestag biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Axel 1952 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag 2005–2009 Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005 Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany