Etienne Schneider (; born 29 January 1971) is a Luxembourgish politician and economist who served as First Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 2013 to 2020. He is a member of the

Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (, , ), abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a social democratic, pro-European political party in Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Eu ...

(LSAP). Schneider was a municipal councillor in

Kayl Kayl ( or locally ) is a Communes of Luxembourg, commune and town in south-western Luxembourg. It is part of the Esch-sur-Alzette (canton), canton of Esch-sur-Alzette. , the town of Kayl, which lies in the centre of the commune, has a populatio ...

from 1995 to 2005, and from 1997 to 2004, he was secretary general of the parliamentary group of the LSAP in Parliament. He was elected first alderman of the municipality of Kayl in 2005, a mandate he held until May 2010. Schneider was appointed Minister for the Economy and Foreign Trade on 1 February 2012. In the government formed following the 2013 general election, he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy. He continued to hold these offices following the 2018 general election, where he became the health minister as well. From 2013 to 2018, Schneider served as Minister for Defence. Following the 2018 general election, he became the first openly gay politician to be reelected for the office of deputy prime minister. After stepping down as first deputy prime minister on 4 February 2020, Schneider entered the business world on the board of directors of both

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation, headquartered in Luxembourg City. It is ranked second on the list of steel producers behind Baowu, and had an annual crude steel production of 58 millio ...

and the

Vladimir Yevtushenkov Vladimir Petrovich Yevtushenkov (; born 25 September 1948) is a Russian billionaire business oligarch. He is the majority owner (49.2%) and former сhairman of Sistema. As a member of the Russian-Saudi Economic Council and as chairman since 200 ...

and Yevgeny Novitsky associated Russian firm

Sistema AFK Sistema PAO is a large Russian conglomerate company, founded by Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who was chairman of the corporation's board of directors until 2022. In April, Yevtushenkov's shareholding in Sistema has decreased to 49.2%, and he also ...

Early life

Born in

Dudelange Dudelange (; ; ) is a commune with town status in southern Luxembourg. It is the fourth-most populous commune, with 22,043 inhabitants. Dudelange is situated close to the border with France. The commune also includes the smaller town of Bude ...

, Schneider completed his secondary schooling at the Lycée Technique d'Esch-sur-Alzette before studying at the

ICHEC Brussels Management School ICHEC Brussels Management School, officially Institut catholique des Hautes Études commerciales, is a Brussels, Brussels-based management school, constituting the economic category of the "Haute École ICHEC - ECAM - ISFSC". It also has severa ...

and at the

University of Greenwich The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along wi ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

where he graduated in business and finance in 1995.

Political posts

In 1995, Schneider became a councilor in

, a post he maintained until 2005, subsequently becoming first alderman until 2010. In 1997, he was appointed secretary general of the

(LSAP) until he became chairman of the board of the electricity utility Cegedel, subsequently becoming chairman and Managing Director of the German energy company, (a grid company), the creation of which is also credited to him. Schneider was also a research assistant at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

between 1995 and 1996. In the Kayl municipal elections in 2005 he was elected as first

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of the municipality which post he occupied till May 2010. During 1997, he worked in Brussels as a project leader with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. In 2010, he also became chairman and managing director of Luxembourg's Société Nationale de Crédit et d'Investissement but resigned all his business appointments when he became Minister of the Economy and Foreign Trade in February 2012, replacing Jeannot Krecké. In this capacity he also co-chaired the Superior Committee for Research and Innovation. His tasks as minister involved private sector research and implementation of the bill of 5 June 2009 relating to assistance in the field of research. Following the legislative elections of 20 October 2013, Étienne Schneider was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Minister of Internal Security and Minister of Defence on 4 December 2013 in the coalition government formed by the Democratic Party (DP), the LSAP and the Green Party (déi gréng). After the legislative elections of 14 October 2018, Étienne Schneider was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy and Minister of Health on 5 December 2018 in the coalition government formed by the DP, the LSAP and déi gréng. As Minister of Economy Schneider has expressed his support for the space program currently taking place to mine near-Earth asteroids in a statement, also mentioning the environmental benefits for mining off Earth. He continued to hold these offices following the 2018 Luxembourg general election, where he became the health minister too. From 2013 to 2018, he served as Minister for Defence. Following the 2018 Luxembourg general election, he became the first openly gay politician to be reelected for the office of deputy minister.

Business career

On 4 February 2020, Schneider stepped down from his post as Minister of Economy and entered the business world receiving an appointment as a director at

in June 2020 after Jeannot Krecké had resigned his position which Krecke held for ten years at ArcelorMittal. On 30 April 2020 as the sole shareholder, Schneider established his first anonymous limited firm ''SA Beta Aquarii'' which is named after the brightest star in the constellation associated with Schneider's astrological sign Aquarius and is located on Boulevard de la Pétrusse in Luxembourg. On 27 June 2020 following Jeannot Krecké's appointment to Sistema in May 2012, Schneider became an independent director of

which controls

East-West United Bank East-West United Bank () is a bank based in Luxembourg, established on 12 June 1974 by the Gosbank, the Soviet Union's central bank. It has been fully owned by Russia-based Sistema since 2018. The bank offered private banking and corporate financ ...

(Luxembourg). Following the Russia invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both Schneider and Krecké severed their ties to Sistema and East-West United Bank (Luxembourg).

Personal life

He is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, and married his husband Jérôme Domange in 2016.

Notes

References

External links

Biography
at the Luxembourg government website {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Ettienne 1971 births Gay politicians Deputy prime ministers of Luxembourg Health ministers of Luxembourg Living people Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party politicians Luxembourgian economists People from Dudelange Luxembourgian gay men Luxembourgian LGBTQ politicians 21st-century Luxembourgian politicians 20th-century Luxembourgian politicians 20th-century economists 21st-century economists Ministers for defence of Luxembourg 20th-century Luxembourgian LGBTQ people 21st-century Luxembourgian LGBTQ people Alumni of the University of Greenwich