came from the incumbent Foreign Minister and his predecessor as SPD leader, Sigmar Gabriel. He accused Schulz and the Party leadership of not showing him the respect he deserves and being rude towards him. This public attack, coupled with internal pressure from the party leadership, led Schulz to retract prior statements and on 9 February 2018 he released a statement saying he would not enter into the new government; he resigned as leader of the SPD effective 13 February 2018. Personal life Schulz is married and has two children, Nico and Lina. He was raised Catholic but is now lapsed. He suffered a period of alcoholism as a young man, after a knee injury put an end to his hopes of playing football. Besides German, Schulz speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch with varying degrees of fluency. Honours and decorations National honour : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2006 : International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen on 14 May 2015 Foreign honours : Großes goldenes Ehrenzeichen der Republik in 2008 : Honorary Doctorate by the Kaliningrad State Technical University on 18 May 2009 : Officer of the French Légion d'honneur in 2010 : Collar of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania on 31 October 2012; Doctor Honoris Causa title by the National School of Political Science and Public Administration of Bucharest on 31 October 2012. : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 10 November 2012 : Key of Honor to the City of Lisbon on 20 June 2013 : Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty on 17 January 2017 Gold Medal of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, in 2014. South America : Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín, 22 August 2016 Asia : Honorary PhD by Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2014 References External links |- |- 1955 births German booksellers German social democrats Grand Crosses of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Living people MEPs for Germany 1994–1999 MEPs for Germany 1999–2004 MEPs for Germany 2004–2009 MEPs for Germany 2009–2014 MEPs for Germany 2014–2019 Officiers of the Légion d'honneur People from Eschweiler Presidents of the European Parliament Social Democratic Party of Germany MEPs Members of the Bundestag