Quick Facts
Biography
Jürgen Hardt (born 30 May 1963) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He currently serves as a member of the Bundestag.
Early life and career
After obtaining Abitur 1982 in Königstein im Taunus, Hardt served as a naval officer in the Bundeswehr for four years and studied economics in Heidelberg and Cologne 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.
Political career
On the national level, Hardt was federal chairman of the Association of Christian Democratic Students (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, 2009–present
Hardt was first elected to the Bundestag in the 2009 federal election, representing Solingen – Remscheid – Wuppertal II. He served on the Defense Committee and the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union between 2009 and 2015 before moving to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is also a member of the German delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group. Hardt defended his seat in parliament by winning the majority of votes in his electoral district in the 2013 election.
In addition to his committee assignments, Hardt succeeded Philipp Mißfelder as Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel in April 2014, 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. In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by Ursula von der Leyen, Gerd Müller and Sigmar Gabriel.
Other activities
Corporate boards
- WSW Wuppertaler Stadtwerke, Member of the Supervisory Board
Non-profit organizations
- Allied Museum, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2017)
- German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Member of the Council
- German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), Member of the Steering Committee
- RIAS Berlin Commission, Member
- German Direct Selling Association (BDD), Member of the Board
- Direct Selling Europe (DSE), Member of the Board
- Civis mit Sonde, Member of the Advisory Board
Political positions
In June 2017, Hardt voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage. Ahead of the Christian Democrats’ leadership election in 2018, he publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party’s chair.