Daniela Schmitt (born 5 August 1972) is a German politician of the

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

(FDP) who has been serving as State Minister for Economics, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture in the state government of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

since 2021. From 2013 until 2021, she was Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture under minister

Volker Wissing Volker Wissing (born 22 April 1970) is a German lawyer and former judge who served as the Minister for Transport in the federal government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz from 2021 to 2025 and as Minister of Justice from 2024 to 2025. Wissing was prev ...

Since 2013, Schmitt has also been deputy leader of the state FDP and a member of the party's federal executive.

Education and early career

After completing an apprenticeship as a bank clerk, Schmitt studied financial

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

and successfully completed her degree at the

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management Frankfurt School of Finance & Management is a :de:Private Hochschule, private university with a right to award doctorates, recognized under Hesse's Higher Education Act. The parent organization is the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management ...

in 2011. From 2011 to 2016 she was director of the Bingen/

Ingelheim Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein (), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen Districts of Germany, district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The town sprawls along the Rhine's left bank. It has been Mainz-Bingen's district seat sin ...

and

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

regional markets of the Mainzer Volksbank and honorary commercial judge at the Mainz regional court.

Political career

Following the 2016 state elections, Schmitt joined the government of Minister-President

Malu Dreyer Marie-Luise "Malu" Dreyer (born 6 February 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the 8th minister-president of Rhineland-Palatinate from 2013 to 2024. She is the first woman to hold this office. She serv ...

, deputising Minister

. Since 2013, she has also been deputy chairwoman of the FDP in Rhineland-Palatinate under Wissing's leadership and a member of the party's federal executive under the leadership of chairman

Christian Lindner Christian Wolfgang Lindner (; born 7 January 1979) is a German former politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who was the Federal Minister of Finance from 2021 until his dismissal in 2024 during the 2024 German government crisis. Servi ...

. In 2020, Schmitt was nominated as the FDP's lead candidate for the

2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election The 2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election was held on 14 March 2021 to elect the 18th Landtag of Rhineland-Palatinate. The outgoing government was a "traffic light coalition" of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Free Democratic Party (FDP), ...

. As one of the state's representatives at the Bundesrat since 2021, Schmitt serves on the Committee on Agriculture and Consumer Protection, the Committee on Economic Affairs and the Committee on Transport. She is also a member of the German-French Friendship Group set up by the Bundesrat and the

French Senate The Senate (, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. It is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' and ...

as well as of the German-Polish Friendship Group set up in cooperation with the

Senate of Poland The Senate () is the upper house of the Parliament of Poland, Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate stretches back over 500 years; it was one of the first constituent ...

. In the negotiations to form a so-called

traffic light coalition In German politics, a traffic light coalition () is a coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Alliance 90/The Greens. It is named after the parties' traditional colours, respectively red, y ...

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), the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

and the FDP on the national level following the 2021 German elections, Schmitt was part of her party's delegation in the working group on economic affairs, co-chaired by

Carsten Schneider Carsten Schneider (born 23 January 1976) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Climate Protection and Nuclear Safety in the government of Ch ...

Cem Özdemir Cem Özdemir (; ; born 21 December 1965) is a German politician who served as Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Germany), Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture in the Scholz cabinet, cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz from 2021 to 202 ...

and

Michael Theurer Michael Theurer (born 12 January 1967) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg from 2017 to 2024. From 2009 until 2017, he was a Member of the Europe ...

. Schmitt was nominated by her party as delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Other activities

* Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), Member of the Supervisory BoardSupervisory Board
Germany Trade and Invest. *

University of Applied Sciences Bingen The Bingen Technical University of Applied Sciences (German: ''Technische Hochschule Bingen'') is a university located in Bingen am Rhein, Germany. It was founded in 1897. The University of Applied Sciences Bingen consists of two faculties: the fa ...

, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2012)

References

1972 births Living people People from Alzey Free Democratic Party (Germany) politicians 21st-century German politicians 21st-century German women politicians {{Germany-FDP-politician-stub