Carsten Schneider (born 23 January 1976) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the German Parliament since 1998.^[1][2] Since 2021, he has also been serving as Parliamentary State Secretary for East Germany and Equivalent Living Conditions in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet.

From 2017 until 2021, Schneider was the First Secretary of his party's parliamentary group, in this position assisting the group's successive chairs Andrea Nahles (2017–2019) and Rolf Mützenich (2019–2021).

After graduating from Wilhelm-Häßler-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Thuringia he accepted a position at an Erfurt savings bank after completing his alternative civilian service in 1998.^[3]

Schneider has been married since 2003 and has two daughters.

Schneider joined the SPD willingly in 1995.^[4] He became active in Young Socialists in the SPD and eventually was elected chairman of the Thuringian chapter. Until 2017, he also belonged to the leadership of the SPD in Thuringia.^[5]

In the 1998 federal elections, at age 22, Schneider became the then-youngest representative in the German Parliament,^[6][7] representing Erfurt from 1998 to 2005 and the successor constituency of Erfurt – Weimar – Weimarer Land II since 2005. He was a member of the Budget Committee, where he served as his parliamentary group's rapporteur on the budgets of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Office of the Federal President. He is also a member of the Thuringian SPD parliamentary caucus, of which he became speaker in 2005.

In 2012, Schneider was selected as one of three speakers of the Seeheim Circle.^[8]

In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) following the 2013 federal elections, Schneider was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on financial policies and the national budget, led by Wolfgang Schäuble and Olaf Scholz. He had previously publicly expressed his doubts about the Social Democrats joining a coalition government with the CDU/CSU, having preferred a coalition with the center-left Alliance '90/The Greens.^[9]

Following the formation of the third cabinet of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, Schneider served as deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of Thomas Oppermann. He was also the chairman of the so-called Confidential Committee (Vertrauensgremium) of the Budget Committee, which provides budgetary supervision for Germany's three intelligence services, BND, BfV and MAD.

In addition, Schneider has been a delegate to the Conference established under Article 13 of the European Fiscal Compact since 2014; this body assembles members of the relevant committees of the European Parliament and national parliaments to discuss economic and fiscal policy and other matters concerning stability, coordination and governance in the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union.

Following the 2017 election, Schneider succeeded Christine Lambrecht as First Secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, in this position assisting the group's chairwoman Andrea Nahles.^[10] In this capacity, he was also a member of the parliament's Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigns committee chairpersons based on party representation.

Ahead of the 2021 elections, Schneider was elected to lead the SPD campaign in Thuringia for the fourth consecutive time.^[11]

In addition to his political work, Schneider holds a number of paid and unpaid positions.

Schneider has been married since 2004. The couple has two children.