Born in 1976 in Ludwigsburg, Hildegard Bentele has a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the Freie Universität, Berlin. She also studied Political Science, History and Public Law in Heidelberg, Paris (Erasmus scholarship), Brussels (Tempus scholarship) and Berlin. Hildegard Bentele joined the Foreign Office in 2002. Since then, she has held several positions. Between 2002 and 2004, she was a Desk Officer in International Energy Policy, then, between 2004 and 2005, she worked at the Diplomatic Academy. From 2005 to 2008, she worked for the German Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia. Between 2008 and 2010, she was a Desk Officer for the Department of North America and Canada. From 2010 to 2013, she had the role of Seconded Foreign Affairs Advisor to the German Bundestag, CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group. In 2011-2016 and 2016-2019, she was a Member of the Berlin House of Representatives, the Spokesperson for School and European Policy of the CDU Parliamentary Group. From 2017 and 2019, she was the Working Group Leader for Education and Science. Between 2018 and 2019, she was the Vice-Chairwoman of the CDU Parliamentary Group. MEP since 2019.