On 7 February 2018, coalition talks concluded and Schulz announced he would succeed Sigmar Gabriel as Foreign minister and leave his party chairmanship to Andrea Nahles.

[7] In 1974, at the age of 19, Schulz joined the SPD, became involved with the Young Socialists and in 1984 was elected to the Würselen Municipal Council, remaining a member for just over two electoral terms, to 1998, from 1987 onwards as mayor.

In 2004 as Leader of the S&D group, Schulz introduced a motion in the European Parliament to refuse to give approval/consent to the Barroso Commission on the basis of the proposed appointment of Italian nominee Rocco Buttiglione and his publicly expressed homophobic views.

By 2008, SPD chairman Kurt Beck has said he wanted Schulz to succeed Günter Verheugen as Germany's EU commissioner following the 2009 European elections; the post eventually went to Günther Oettinger.

The Prize, honoring "over six decades [having] contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe", was awarded by a unanimous decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Schulz launched his European campaign on 17 April in front of 1,600 socialist activists in Paris, promising to tackle taxes and social dumping.

[19] The decision to back Juncker for the Commission's presidency instead was later endorsed at an informal meeting in Paris of eight Social Democratic leaders, including Thorning-Schmidt, Sigmar Gabriel of Germany and Werner Faymann of Austria.

Since 1999, Schulz has been part of the SPD leadership under party chairmen Gerhard Schröder (1999–2004), Franz Müntefering (2004–05 and 2008–09), Matthias Platzeck (2005–06), Kurt Beck (2006–08) and Sigmar Gabriel (2009–17).

In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the 2013 federal elections, he was part of the wider leadership circle chaired by Angela Merkel, Horst Seehofer and Sigmar Gabriel.

[25] In March he was unanimously chosen as official head of the party, the first time in post-war Germany a leader of the SPD received no dissenting vote.

With unemployment hitting new lows each month during the campaign, Schulz later struggled to gain traction with a message focusing on the ills of inequality in Germany.

[30] Within an hour of the first exit poll, Schulz confirmed statements by other senior party figures that the SPD would not renew its Grand coalition with the CDU under Angela Merkel but head into opposition.

After heavy public and internal criticism, Schulz stepped down as SPD Leader on 13 February 2018 and proposed Andrea Nahles as his replacement; and shortly thereafter he also gave up his attempt to become Foreign minister.

[4] In 2014, however, he argued it was also essential that responsibility was delegated away from Brussels and down to national, regional and local authorities, allowing the EU to focus on the big issues.

[41] After the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a membership referendum, Schulz warned in mid-2016: "If we break the instruments with which we banish the demons, we will set them free again.

Schulz was quoted in a newspaper report of his speech as having said: "If we wish to defend our values and interests, if we wish to maintain the security of our citizens, then a majority of MEPs consider that we need a headquarters for civil and military missions in Brussels and deployable troops,"[45] The External Action Service of HRUFASP Catherine Ashton had prepared a proposal, which was supported by France, Spain, Italy, Poland and Germany who together have QMV majority, to create a European Air Force composed of surveillance drones, heavy transport airplanes, and air-to-air refuelling planes.

However, Schulz is much in favour of decent wage agreements, secure and lasting jobs, employee participation in decision-making and the examination of the social justification for claims and payments.

[46] In an effort to improve relations between Europe and Cuba, Schulz led a European Parliament delegation to Havana for talks with Carlos Lage Dávila on lifting EU sanction against the countries in 2008.

[47] In 2014, Schulz delivered a speech to the Israeli Knesset, in which he criticised Israel for denying Palestinians a fair share of water resources in the occupied West Bank.

The speech sparked a walk-out by several lawmakers from the Jewish Home party, and drew a public rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

[48] In 2015, amid the Russo-Ukrainian War, Schulz suspended a committee made up of Russian and EU lawmakers that meets several times a year to improve ties.

In the debate on the future of the Euro Stability Pact Schulz had criticised the role played by the United Kingdom, which was involved in the discussions despite not being a member of the eurozone, and said that some eurosceptics would take pleasure in the collapse of the European Union.

[58] During his time as President of the European Parliament, Schulz removed a paragraph critical of his stewardship in a key committee report set for debate on 2 April 2014, thereby attracting a lot of negative attention.

Schulz was also accused of signing irregular promotions of close associates in a presidential decree that would have secured them financially advantageous posts beyond his departure.

Schulz described the complaint as an election maneuver by "anti-Europeans, conservatives and Greens" and referred a decision of the European Anti-Fraud Office not to initiate an official investigation.

[65][66][67] On the day of the 2017 Federal Election, Schulz said he would under no circumstances become a minister of a government led by Angela Merkel or negotiate to form a Grand Coalition.

After the SPD and Union parties finished their coalition talks on 6 February 2018, he made his intentions clear that he wanted to be Foreign Minister in the next government.

This was met by heavy criticism from the party base, as Schulz was abandoning his word for a second time—the first being his vow not to enter coalition talks with Angela Merkel.