Dennis Radtke was born in Wattenscheid, a district of the city of Bochum in the Ruhr area, in 1979. The Ruhr area, strongly influenced by its diverse industry, is the largest metropolitan region in Germany making it the third largest within the European Union. Dennis Radtke is the middle child and has two brothers. After passing the German Abitur (German university entrance qualification), he started his apprenticeship as an industrial business assistant at Dr. C. Otto Feuerfest GmbH in Bochum. He has been a member of the trade union for mining, chemicals and energy (IG BCE) since then. During his time as an industrial business assistant, Mr Radtke was an active member of the group representing young people and apprentices at this union. From 2006 to 2008, he participated in the trainee programme of the IG BCE which he completed as trade union General Secretary. Until the start of his mandate at the European Parliament, he worked for ten years in this position, lastly as district manager in Moers in North Rhine-Westphalia. Dennis Radtke is a member of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union, Party in Germany) as well as its association CDA (Christian Democratic Employees’ Association). From 2007 to 2014, he was national Chairman of the young CDA in Germany. He has been a member of the federal committee of the CDA since 2007. He has been also the primary substitute state party leader of the CDA North Rhine-Westphalia and regional party leader of the CDA Ruhr area, the biggest regional association of the CDA in Germany, since 2013. In 2012, he became a member of the board of the party of the federal state of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia, and in 2016, member of the federal committees ‘Europe’ and ‘Work & Social Affairs’ of the CDU Germany. He has also been a member of the regional assembly of the regional association Ruhr area (RVR - Regionalverband Ruhrgebiet), the so-called Ruhr Parliament, since 2008. He became a Member of the European Parliament on 24th July 2017.