¿Who is our common candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission?

Martin Schulz was born on 20th December 1955 in Hehlrath Germany, a small town of North Rhine-Westphalia, close to the German-Dutch-Belgian borders. After finishing high school he decided to do an apprenticeship as a bookseller combining his professional life with his passion for literature. From 1982 until 1994 he ran successfully his own bookstore in Würselen.

Schulz engaged with the social democracy values at a very young stage of his life by joining, at the age of 19, the youth organisation (Jusos) of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was elected, at the age of 31, as the youngest mayor of North Rhine-Westphalia, a post he held for 11 years. Schulz’s European political career started in 1994 when he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament by his political party, where he coordinated a number of committees, first serving on the sub-committee on Human Rights (1994-1996) and then on the Committee on Civil Liberties and Home Affairs (1996-2000). Along with these activities he has served, since 1999, as member of the SPD Bureau and Federal Executive and since 2009 as SPD Representative for EU Relations.

He led the SPD MEPs from 2000 until 2004 and was subsequently elected Vice-Chair of the Socialist MEPs (2002-2004). In 2004 he was elected as Chairman of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D). Martin Schulz was elected President of the European Parliament on 17 January 2012 for a mandate of two and half years with 387 votes.

On the personal level, Martin Schulz is married with two children. In his childhood he dreamed about being a professional football player but two serious knee injuries, at the age of 18, wrecked his objective. His passion for books, in particular good historic literature from Eric Hobsbawm, is accompanied by the disciplined routine of writing in his diary.

Martin Schulz represents the active effort to maintain the idea of Europe within its citizens with a strong sense of self-examination of its institutions. Coherent in his discourse, he is aware of the people’s demand of change and regeneration contributing, with a reflexive and constructive view of the current European affairs, with solutions. He has campaigned for the core values of social democracy along his political career, like social justice, promoting jobs and growth, reforming financial markets, fighting climate change and championing equality. Schulz stands for the vision shared by millions of Europeans of a stronger and more integrated Europe.