Jürgen Hardt (born 30 May 1963) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has served as a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

since 2009.

Early life and career

After obtaining

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

1982 in

Königstein im Taunus Königstein im Taunus () is a health spa and lies on the thickly wooded slopes of the Taunus in Hesse, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Owing to its advantageous location for both scenery and transport on the edg ...

, Hardt served as a naval officer in the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

for four years and studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

from 1986 to 1993. From 1992 to 2001 Hardt worked for the federal office of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, including as head of the office of Peter Hintze, the CDU Secretary-General, from 1995 to 1998. From 2001 to 2009 he was a senior manager at household appliances company Vorwerk in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

. As head of corporate communications at Vorwerk he won the German Public Relations Prize in 2005.

Political career

Jürgen Hardt joined the CDU in 1981. On the national level, he was federal chairman of the

Association of Christian Democratic Students The Association of Christian Democratic Students (german: Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten) is a German student organisation founded in 1951 and based in Berlin. It contains more than 100 groups at universities with 8,000 members in tot ...

(RCDS) from 1987 to 1989. From 2004 to 2009 he served as a member of Wuppertal's city council and chaired the council's committee on economic affairs. Since 2003 Hardt has been serving as chairman of the Wuppertal county branch of the CDU and since 2005 deputy chairman of the Bergisches Land district branch of the CDU.

Member of the Bundestag

Hardt was first elected to the Bundestag in the 2009 federal election, representing

Solingen – Remscheid – Wuppertal II Solingen – Remscheid – Wuppertal II is an electoral constituency ( German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as ...

. He served on the Defense Committee and the Committee on the Affairs of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

between 2009 and 2015 before moving to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In addition to his committee assignments, Hardt was a member of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group and of the German delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. He was also a substitute member of the German delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

(PACE) from 2014 until 2021, where he served on the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy (2016–2021), the Sub-Committee on External Relations (2018–2021) and Sub-Committee on Culture, Diversity and Heritage (2014–2015). In April 2014, Hardt succeeded Philipp Mißfelder as Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office in the government of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel, an office he held until April 2018. Following Mißfelder’s death in 2015, he also took over as foreign policy spokesperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and has held this position ever since. In the negotiations to form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

under the leadership of

Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A striker renowned for his clinical finishing, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalsco ...

and Sigmar Gabriel. Between 2014 and 2018 Hardt was the government's coordinator for transatlantic cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office. While he lost his direct mandate in

2021 German federal election Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...

, he still gained a seat in parliament via the party list. In the current legislative period he serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and as deputy on the Committee on the Affairs of the

as well as the Sub-Committee on the United Nations, International Organizations and Civil Crisis Prevention. On the European level, Hardt is a member of the Board of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

Other activities

* German Israel Association, Member of the Board (since 2022) * German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Member of the Council *

German Council on Foreign Relations The German Council on Foreign Relations (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP)) is Germany's national foreign policy network and policy research institute. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit org ...

(DGAP), Member of the Steering Committee

Political positions

In June 2017, Hardt voted against naming same-sex civil unions marriages.

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

. Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, he publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair. When German federal prosecutors accused the Russian government in 2020 of ordering the killing of a former Chechen rebel in Berlin and indicted a Russian man for the murder, Hardt called for further sanctions against Russia. Ever since the Russian invasion in Ukraine Jürgen Hardt has demanded the delivery of heavy weapons to the Ukrainian government. Prior to the invasion, he was in favour of equipping the Ukrainian military with defensive weapons and a more decisive stance against Russia's aggression.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardt, Jurgen 1963 births Living people Members of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia Politicians from Wuppertal Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021 Members of the Bundestag 2013–2017 Members of the Bundestag 2009–2013 Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany