Daniela Schwarzer


Daniela Carolin Schwarzer is a German political scientist and has been a member of the Executive Board of the Bertelsmann Stiftung since 2023. She is a leading expert on European and international affairs and has a long career in think tanks, foundations and universities, as well as in journalism.

Early life and education

After graduating from high school in 1992, Schwarzer studied political science and linguistics at the University of Tübingen. She spent time abroad at the University of Reading in Great Britain and the French Institut d'études politiques de Paris. In 2005, Schwarzer received her doctorate in political economy from the Free University of Berlin with a thesis on fiscal policy coordination in the euro zone.

Career

Schwarzer began her professional career in 1999 as an editor and France correspondent for Financial Times Deutschland in Paris. Between 2004 and 2013, she worked at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, where she led the Europe research group starting in 2008. From 2013 to 2016, she served on the executive board of the German Marshall Fund of the United States as Research Director, overseeing the Berlin office and the Europe program.
From 2016 to 2021, Schwarzer was Director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations.
From 2021 to 2023, Schwarzer served as Executive Director for Europe and Central Asia at the Open Society Foundations. During that time, she was Special Advisor to Josep Borrell, High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission, from 2020 to 2022.
In May 2023, Schwarzer became a member of the board at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, a non-profit organization headquartered in Gütersloh. She oversees programs and initiatives focused on the future of Europe, as well as on strengthening democracy and social cohesion. In addition, she has been co-chairing the German-Japanese Forum since 2025.
Schwarzer is regularly consulted as an expert. She was co-rapporteur of the Working Group on Reform and Enlargement of the European Union, convened by the French and German governments, which presented its report in September 2023. She also advised France and Poland during their respective EU Council Presidencies and the Centre d'analyse stratégique of the French Prime Minister.

Academic positions

Schwarzer was co-founder of the European Political Economy Review. She has held various teaching positions, including in 2011 at the Hertie School of Governance, the College of Europe in Bruges, and the Universities of Macau and Salzburg.
From 2012 to 2013, she was a fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. In 2014, she became a senior research professor at Johns Hopkins University. In 2020, she held a fellowship at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.
In 2021, Schwarzer was named Honorary Professor of Political Science at the Free University of Berlin. She is affiliated with the Center for European Integration within the Otto Suhr Institute for Political Science. In fall 2022, she was the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at Harvard University, with which she was already affiliated as a Senior Fellow of the Belfer Center.

Other activities

Corporate boards

In 2017, Schwarzer was inducted into the French Legion of Honor.

Work

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