27 Facts About Johannes Hahn

Johannes Hahn was born on 2 December 1957 and is an Austrian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Budget and Administration under Ursula von der Leyen since 1 December 2019.

Johannes Hahn previously served as European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations from November 2014 to November 2019 and before that as European Commissioner for Regional Policy from 2010 to 2014.

Johannes Hahn is a member of the Austrian People's Party, part of the European People's Party.

Johannes Hahn studied at the University of Vienna and began his political career in the youth organisation of the Austrian People's Party, where he was chairman of the Vienna group from 1980 to 1985.

Johannes Hahn adopted a decidedly pro-European position at a time when many within the party had doubts about Austria's accession to the EU.

Johannes Hahn graduated with a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Vienna in 1987.

In May 2007 media scholar Stefan Weber accused Johannes Hahn of copying numerous pages of his PhD thesis from other books without citing them correctly.

The University of Vienna looked into the matter but decided not to start an examination procedure, saying that Johannes Hahn never presented "other people's intellectual property" as his own.

From 1987 to 1989 Johannes Hahn worked as Secretary General of the Austrian Managers Association, and was active in the Austrian Federal Youth Council and the General Secretariat of the Austrian People's Party.

In 1992 Johannes Hahn became Secretary of the Austrian People's Party in Vienna and, in 1996, he became a member of the Vienna regional council, where he seated until 2003.

From 2003 to 2007 Johannes Hahn was a member of the Vienna regional government.

Since 2004 Johannes Hahn has been Chairman of the Austrian People's Party in Vienna and, as such, was the party frontrunner in the October 2005 regional elections in which an increase in votes for the OVP made the OVP the second strongest party in the regional parliament, with 18 seats.

From 1997 onwards, Johannes Hahn was member of the executive board of Novomatic.

Johannes Hahn was sworn in as Minister of Science and Research on 11 January 2007, as part of the Austrian Federal Government under Alfred Gusenbauer, then from 2 December 2008 as part of the First Faymann government.

Amongst other things, in his work Johannes Hahn has placed a particular focus on improving public relations for people and institutions working in and around the fields of science and research.

Johannes Hahn's aim has been to bring more researchers into the public eye as, for example, he publicly called upon the Austrian Academy of Sciences to "come out of their ivory tower".

One of Johannes Hahn's aims has been to raise public awareness of the great number of successful women in science and research in Austria by means of the so-called "Visibility Measures" which were launched in 2008.

In co-operation with Austrian booksellers, Johannes Hahn launched an initiative in autumn 2007 to select the best scientific book of the year.

In 2008 Johannes Hahn created the "Award of Excellence" for the best doctoral theses in Austria, as a way of recognising the work of young scientists and making the public more aware of their activities.

Johannes Hahn has continued the tradition of awarding the Wittgenstein Prize, a science prize with the highest money value in Austria, which attracts a great deal of media attention and is tied to research activities in the following six years.

Johannes Hahn himself stated that joining ESO had been one of the most significant political decisions in the field of research for 20 years, from which not only astronomers but physicists, mathematicians, software specialists and high-tech companies would benefit.

Johannes Hahn announced in May 2009, during a parliamentary sub-committee debate on the Austrian science and research budget for 2009 and 2010, that he wanted to end Austria's 50-year membership of CERN as of 2010 because the costs were too high.

Johannes Hahn particularly emphasised the importance of making a combined effort on all fronts, including the integration of educational policy, since education and training constitute the main pre-requisites of a competitive research location.

In November 2009 Johannes Hahn was nominated by the Austrian Federal Government to succeed Benita Ferrero-Waldner as member of the European Commission from Austria.

Johannes Hahn oversaw, together with his colleagues, the EU's emergency response to the refugee crisis along the Balkan route, and managed the relations with Turkey before and after the failed 2016 coup, including in terms of assistance to the Syrian refugees based on the EU-Turkey deal.

On 24 November 2016 Johannes Hahn signed the agreement on financing the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine.

Johannes Hahn is a separated father of one son, born in 1988.