Günther Burghardt

Visiting professor, European Political and Administrative Studies Department

Günter Burghardt (DE) served as Ambassador for the European Union to the United States (2000-2005), after having accomplished a 30-year-long career with the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels. He had served, in particular, as the Commission’s Director General for External Relations under Commissioners Chris Patten (1999-2000) and Hans van den Broek (1993-1999). From 1985 to 1993 he was a close aide to Commission President Jacques Delors, holding the posts of Deputy Chief of Staff and of the Commission’s Political Director. During these years he participated in major achievements of the Delors Presidency such as the completion of the EU’s Internal Market Program, the introduction of the Euro, and the historic process leading to full EU membership of Europe’s new democracies. From 1970 to 1985 his assignments included the positions of Deputy Chief of Staff to the Commissioner for Internal Market, Environmental Protection, Nuclear Safety and Innovation, Assistant to the Director General for External Relations, and as Desk Officer for relations with the United States, Canada and Australia.

He studied law and economics in Germany, France and the UK and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg with a thesis on European Community Law in 1969. After retiring from the European Commission in 2005, Professor Burghardt joined the transatlantic law firm of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, LLP, in Brussels and Washington, DC. He also teaches at the Law Faculty at the University of Ghent, Belgium.