Günter Burghardt

Günter Burghardt, a senior European civil servant and former European Union ambassador to the United States, is a European lawyer and lobbyist.[1]

Career

After earning a PhD in community law (University of Hamburg, 1969), Burghardt began his career in the European Commission legal services branch, where he worked from 1970 to 1972. He then became desk officer for European Relations with the United States, Canada and Australia until 1978, when he assisted Sir Roy Denman,[1] the EU's Director-General for External Relations (1978–1980). Denman was later to serve as EU Ambassador to the U.S. (1982–1989).

From 1981 to 1984 Burghardt was deputy chief of staff to the EU’s Commissioner for Internal Market, Environment Protection, and Nuclear Safety and Innovation. From 1985 till 1993, as an aide to European Commission president Jacques Delors, he was deputy chief of staff and political director, participating in several of the achievements of the Delors presidency, including the introduction of the Euro currency, helping to enable German reunification, the accession of new EU member states and strengthening the partnership of the EU with the United States.[1]

He was then appointed Director General for External Relations of the European Commission, a position he held from 1993 to 2000 under Commissioners Hans van den Broek (1993–1999) and Chris Patten (1999–2000). In 2000 he was appointed European Union Ambassador and Head of Delegation to the United States, a position he left in 2004. He has also been a special advisor to Olli Rehn, who was till 2010 the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, responsible in particular for the political aspects of enlargement and related issues in the Balkans.

In 2005 he joined the law firm Mayer Brown International LLP in Brussels and Washington, D.C. as a lobbyist specializing in regulatory matters, trade policy and antitrust; he is now senior counsel for that firm. Burghardt currently serves on the board of directors for several think tanks, including the Friends of Europe, the Transatlantic Economic Council, the European Institute, the Itinera Institute, and the EU-Russia Centre. He is a member of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union and the German Economic Council. In 2011 he became vice-president of the board of directors of the Brussels chapter of the Club of Rome.[2] He was previously a visiting professor at the College of Europe[3] in Bruges and at Ghent University.

Articles

Ribbon bar, Order of Merit (Germany), Grand Cross

Awards

Burghardt has received the German Federal Cross of Merit, First Class (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse), the European People's Party's Robert Schuman Medal, and Bavaria's Europe Medal.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dr. Günter Burghardt, Senior Counsel, Profile at Mayer-Brown law firm, Brussels. Accessed 25 January 2015.
  2. ↑ General Assembly of the Club of Rome EU Chapter, 26 May 2012, appointment of Friedrich Barth and Günter Burghardt. Accessed 25 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Günter Burghardt biography, College of Europe, 2 December 2013, at Internet Archive. Accessed 25 January 2015