In 1979, Schmit started his political and diplomatic career as an attaché in the
Prime Minister's office in Luxembourg, followed by the Foreign Ministry. In 1989, he became Secretary to the LSAP's delegation in the
Chamber of Deputies. He was appointed to the
Council of State on 29 October 1991, replacing
René Grégorius. In 2004, Schmit was appointed to the
first Juncker-Asselborn Government as Minister-Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, working under
Jean Asselborn as
Minister for Foreign Affairs. After the
2009 election, in which Schmit was elected for the
Est constituency as the sole LSAP
deputy, he did not take his seat but was reappointed to the government. He was promoted to the office of
Minister of Labour, Employment and Immigration of Luxembourg. He is the chairman of the EPSCO network of the
Party of European Socialists. Since the
2019 European elections, Schmit has been a
Member of the European Parliament, where he belongs to the
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group. He has since been serving on the
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. ==Controversy==