Joachim Schuster (born 28 October 1962 in Rastatt) 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) who has been serving as a

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 ...

(MEP) since 2014, representing

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

. From 1999 until 2006, Schuster was member of the

Bürgerschaft of Bremen The State Parliament of Bremen (, ) is the legislative branch of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen in Germany. The state parliament elects the members of the Senate (executive), exercises oversight of the executive, and passes legislation. It cu ...

. From 2006 until December 2012, State Council in Bremen, first of work, youth and social issues, then of health and science.

Education and early career

Schuster was studying political science from 1984 until 1989 at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

and graduated in 1993 at the

University of Bremen The University of Bremen () is a public university in Bremen, Germany, with approximately 18,400 students from 117 countries. Its 12 faculties offer more than 100 degree programs. The University of Bremen has been among the top 50 European rese ...

with an analysis of the perspectives of the European Economic and Monetary Union. From 1991 until 1994 and from 1997 until 1999 he was research associate in two different research projects in regard to questions of the European Integration and the role of European trade unions. Further, between 1994 and 1999 he was self-employed in the field of policy consultation and between 1999 and 2006 he was the manager of the Institute for applied social and political sciences.

Political career

Schuster started his political career in the student council and in the peace movement. In 1982 he joined the

(SPD). There he started at the group of the young socialists in the SPD (Jusos), later he got involved in different positions in the SPD. In 1999 Schuster became a deputy in the

until 2006. First, he was the speaker for environmental issues, afterwards he became speaker for social issues in his parliamentary group. Between 2006 and 2012 he was State Council in Bremen, first for work, youth and social issues, later for health and sciences. In April 2013 the state party conference of the SPD Bremen nominated Schuster as candidate for the elections of 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 ...

on 25 May 2014, where he then became elected as

. In his political views Schuster is a left-wing politician.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–present

Joachim Schuster is a vice chairman of the SPD group in the Parliament and responsible for the relations to the SPD-Group of the German

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 ...

. He is member of the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion ...

(EMPL). His main topics in the INTA are about Africa (especially the southern African states), Ukraine,

CETA The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA; French: ''accord économique et commercial global'', AECG; German: ''Umfassendes Wirtschafts- und Handelsabkommen'') is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its m ...

and

TTIP The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was a proposed trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States, with the aim of promoting trade and multilateral economic growth. According to Karel De Gucht, Europ ...

, in the EMPL he focuses on digitalization. In addition to his committee assignments, Schuster is substitute member of the EU delegation to the

ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly The ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was created to bring together the elected representatives of the European Union (the Members of the European Parliament) and the elected representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states ("ACP ...

and with the national parliaments of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

(EURONEST). He is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Trade Unions and the European Parliament Intergroup on

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

Other activities

* Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Member of the Political Advisory Board (since 2020)Bernd Westphal und Anke Rehlinger koordinieren neu konstituierten Politischen Beirat des SPD-Wirtschaftsforums
Business Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, press release of July 1, 2020. * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member * Centre for Social Policy of the

, Honorary member of the Scientific Advisory Board * Europa-Union Bremen, Member of the Executive Board

Personal life

Schuster is married and father of two children.

Publications

* ''SPD Bundesparteitag: Sozialdemokratische Kompetenz in der Wirtschaftspolitik'' SPW 210, Dortmund 2015, * mit Dominika Biegón: ''Strukturreformen neu denken. Das Europäische Semester und der Jahreswachstumsbericht 2016'' Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin 2015, . * ''Ohne soziale Dimension hat die EU keine Zukunft. Stellungnahme des Europäischen Parlaments.'' In: Europa Kommunal, 2/2017, Rat der Gemeinden und Regionen Europas, Köln 2017, * ''Investitionsschutz á la CETA reicht nicht. Ohne Investorenpflichten wäre ein multilaterales Investitionsabkommen schädlich'' Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft 2017 * mit Dominika Biegón und Wolfgang Kowalsky: ''Schöne neue Arbeitswelt? Wie eine Antwort der EU auf die Plattformökonomie aussehen könnte'' Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin 2017, . * ''Für einen Paradigmenwechsel in der Handelspolitik.'' In: Helmut Scholz: ''handel(n) von links.'' VSA Verlag, Hamburg 2017, .

References

External links

Personal Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Joachim German political scientists Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs Members of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 MEPs for Germany 2019–2024 People from Rastatt University of Marburg alumni University of Bremen alumni Living people 1962 births