Helga Schmid

Helga Maria Schmid is a European diplomat and the Secretary General of the European External Action Service.[1]

Helga Schmid
Secretary General of the European External Action Service
Assumed office
1 September 2016
PresidentFederica Mogherini
Preceded byAlain Le Roy
Succeeded byTBD
Personal details
Born
Helga Maria Schmid

(1960-12-08) 8 December 1960
Bavaria, West Germany (now Germany)
EducationUniversity of Munich
Diplomatic Academy of Vienna

Education

Schmid has advanced degrees in Literature, History and Politics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She also studied International and European Union law, Economics and International relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.[2]

Career and policy

She has worked in various positions within the German government since 1988 and was assistant private secretary to the minister for European Affairs between 1990 and 1991. From 1991 to 1994 she was the press and public affairs officer for the German embassy in Washington, D.C.. From 1994 to 1998 Schmid worked as a political adviser to Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel. She held the same position from 1998 to 2000 with Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. Between 2000 and 2005, she followed various executive positions at the headquarters of the Foreign Office in Berlin.[3] Among them she was Head of the Political Staff and Head of the Ministerial Office from 2003 to 2005, until she became Director of the Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit of the High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy in 2006, Javier Solana, in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels.[4][5]

Following the founding of the European External Action Service, Schmid became deputy secretary-general for political affairs in 2010. In this capacity, she was involved in negotiations for the Nuclear program of Iran. The task was to negotiate with Abbas Araghchi and continue the high level discussions, while the technical level was ongoing.[6] In the negotiations for the EU-3 nuclear agreement with Iran, Schmid was the lead author of the 100-page treaty which was successfully concluded in 2015, while holding the consent of current president Rouhani, who at the time was the Iranian Chief Negotiator in the Nuclear Dispute[7]

Exchange of notes during the negotiations over the future of Iran's nuclear program in 2015

Awards

In 2009, Helga Schmid received the Medal for Special Services to Bavaria in a United Europe. In November 2015, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded her the Federal Cross of Merit class I.[8]

Quotes
  • "Women are the better negotiators."[9]
  • "When it comes to the solution to the Syria crisis, the EU position is clear: a lasting solution to the conflict can only be achieved through a Syrian-led political process leading to a transition. Which means obviously that you also talk to the representatives of the Assad regime."[10]
gollark: Check out the new (optional, the existing one works fine) potatOS installer program: https://pastebin.com/bpzbskdk
gollark: You can, technically, run potatOS on paper.
gollark: It's probably possible to go way higher.
gollark: You can quite easily pack 9KB of data onto a sheet of paper with a laser printer or something.
gollark: Just because you *can* pack lots of data onto paper, doesn't mean you *should*.

References
  1. European Union External Action Service Federica Mogherini appoints Helga Schmid as Secretary General of the European External Action Service
  2. European Union External Action HELGA MARIA SCHMID
  3. Republic of Austria: Helga Schmid Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS)
  4. These Three Women: Ashton, Schmid, Sherman and the Nuclear Talks The trio that holds the key to negotiations with Iran.
  5. Politico.eu: HELGA SCHMID SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE
  6. Iran Review Iran, P5+1 Expert Level Talks in Istanbul
  7. Ralph Sina: "Axis Tehran - Brussels: EU's most important Rouhani -Partner." Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Studio 9, 3 January 2018, 6:10, 03:30 minutes
  8. German Ministry of Foreign Affairs Speech by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the occasion of the awarding of the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, to Helga Schmid and Dr. Ing. Hans-Dieter Lucas
  9. German Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Women are the better negotiators "
  10. Women in Peace "Helga Schmid"
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