Johannes Hahn (politician)

Johannes Hahn (2009)

Johannes Hahn (born December 2, 1957 in Vienna ) is an Austrian politician of the ÖVP and since December 1, 2019 EU Commissioner for Budget and Administration in the von der Leyen Commission . From November 2014 to November 2019 he was EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations in the Juncker Commission and since February 10, 2010 EU Commissioner for Regional Policy in the Barroso II Commission . From January 11, 2007 to January 26, 2010 he was Austrian Federal Minister for Science and Research .

Education and private matters

After graduating from the University of Vienna in 1976, Johannes Hahn studied law for six years , but did not obtain a degree. In 1982 he began to study philosophy , journalism and German . In 1987 he received his doctorate with the thesis "The Perspectives of Philosophy Today, Depicted in the Phenomenon of the City".

Hahn has a son and a grandchild. He is in a relationship with the former Vice Chancellor Susanne Riess , who represented the FPÖ until she left.

Professional and political career

Hahn during the 54th MSC 2018

Hahn began his political career in the ÖVP youth organization Junge Volkspartei , of which he was regional chairman in Vienna from 1980 to 1985. This was followed by activities at the Federal Youth Council and in the General Secretariat of the ÖVP. In 1992 Hahn became regional managing director of ÖVP Vienna and in 1996 municipal councilor.

From 1997 to 2003, in addition to his political activities, Hahn was on the board of directors of Novomatic AG, an international lender of gaming machines and operator of arcades and betting shops. In 2003 he became chairman of the board of directors of Novomatic AG and chairman of the supervisory board of its subsidiary Admiral Sportwetten GmbH.

From 2003 to 2006 he was non-executive city councilor and since 2004 chairman of the ÖVP Vienna and thus also the top candidate for the state election held in October 2005 , in which the ÖVP was able to overtake the FPÖ , which was losing votes , and with 18 mandates behind the SPÖ (55th Mandates) became the second largest party in the Vienna Landtag.

Science Minister

On 11 January 2007, Johannes Hahn was appointed Federal Minister for Science and Research sworn in . Until 2008 he held this office in the Gusenbauer cabinet , from December 2, 2008 in the Faymann I cabinet , where he also held the office of Federal Minister of Justice on January 15, 2009 until the inauguration of the judge Claudia Bandion-Ortner, who was proposed by the ÖVP . At the end of his tenure as Minister of Science, the largest student protests in Austria for decades in 2009/2010 also took place .

Universities

Hahn spoke out against the abolition of tuition fees by the federal government Faymann I (SPÖ-ÖVP coalition) in 2008, which had been introduced in 2001 by the federal government Schüssel I (FPÖ-ÖVP coalition) under his predecessor Elisabeth Gehrer (ÖVP). In his opinion, reintroduction would still be desirable. In return, the system of student grants should be expanded accordingly and students should be able to claim a refund of part of the fees through a certain number of tutoring hours for pupils. During Hahn's term of office, two amendments to the Study Funding Act with a budget volume of 25 million euros per year for additional study funding (2007 and 2008) were passed. The budget for student funding in the Ministry of Science in 2008 totaled 199.5 million euros. In retrospect, according to the Ministry, spending on student grants has risen from EUR 105 million in 2000 to almost EUR 200 million.

In May 2009, on Hahn's initiative, an e-voting system was used for the first time in the election for the Austrian Students' Union (ÖH) , which enabled voting via the Internet . The goals stated were to increase or at least stabilize voter turnout and the establishment of a modern, alternative electoral system, which, according to a survey commissioned by the ministry, was welcomed by 82% of students in 2008. One of the main advantages for the future was being able to involve people in the election who would otherwise not be reached (foreign students, long-distance learning and working students). This measure was accompanied by criticism of both the technical solution used and, in principle, the suitability of such technologies for secret elections, the result of which, however, must be verifiable. The technical implementation of the election with e-voting cost almost 900,000 euros and was used by 2,161 of the 59,241 students participating in the election (around 230,000 were eligible to vote).

Rooster and a Protesting Student (October 2009)

At the end of October 2009, with the occupation of the auditorium of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and shortly thereafter the Audimax of the University of Vienna, student protests began throughout Austria, which were directed against restrictions on free university access, for example through entrance exams and tuition fees, and an improvement in the budget of the Universities demanded. Hahn rejected the protests, but agreed to provide 34 million euros from the “ministerial reserve”, which consists of two percent of the university budget and is intended for measures at the universities. After a month of continuous occupation of lecture halls at several universities, he also invited representatives of the protesting students to a “university dialogue”. Shortly after the start of the protests and the resulting public discussion about Austria's education and university policy, it became known that Hahn would end his work as Minister of Science at the beginning of 2010 and move to the European Commission .

Universities of applied sciences

Under Hahn, on July 4, 2007 , the National Council decided on equal pay for college graduates and university graduates in civil service law at the federal level. As a result of this amendment, all graduates of technical college diploma and master’s courses were given equal status to their university counterparts in the public service. In addition, since December 2007 students of all Austrian FH courses have been full members of the Austrian student body .

At the National Council meeting on November 7, 2007, the status of “part-time lecturer” was included in the FHStG as a separate category. In April 2008 Hahn announced the first budget increase in the history of Austrian universities of applied sciences. Since the 2009/10 academic year, all UAS holders have received an average of 13.7% more than before per study place.

Public relations for science and research

One focus of Hahn's work as minister was public relations work for people and institutions working in academia and research. In addition to the continuation of the children's universities , the award of the Wittgenstein Prize and the resumption of the Long Night of Research , for example “Visibility measures” for women in science and research and the “Sparkling Science” program for schoolchildren were launched and publicly advertised.

A research program of the Federal Ministry of Science and Research started in 2007 under the name “Sparkling Science”, in which scientists and young people are to work together on scientific projects until 2017. The aim of the program is to get students excited about science and research as early as possible. According to Hahn, there were over 100 individual projects in autumn 2009, from small school projects to university research projects, in which 13,000 students were involved. In 2009, 14 projects were awarded 5000 euros each. Since the school research projects also have economic potential, schools that can implement a Sparkling Science project from 2010 onwards will have a total of 11 million euros at their disposal over a period of four years.

Together with the Austrian book trade, Hahn started an initiative in autumn 2007 with the annual election for the best “science book of the year” to improve the image and thus to better communicate research achievements and achievements.

The Long Night of Research took place again in 2008 after a break of several years. Hahn regards them as a central measure to convey enthusiasm and information about research and as a stage for researchers to make their work and commitment known to a broad audience.

The “Visibility Measures”, which were started in 2008, were intended to make successful women in science and research in Austria known to the public. The planned measures included media training and priorities in the media (film show “Scientists in Film” and a script competition), which were supposed to report more on the scientific work of women. As a result of media training measures used by over 100 women scientists, a DVD with interviews with some of them was presented on May 14, 2009 . In order to further implement the department's internal promotion of women goals, two managerial positions were given to female scientists in October 2009. Sabine Ladstätter became the new director of the Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI) and Irene Forstner-Müller became the new branch and excavation manager of the ÖAI in Cairo .

The “Award of Excellence” created in 2008 is intended to honor the best dissertations written at Austrian universities . In the first year 30 and in 2009 36 young scientists were honored, each of whom received 2,500 euros in prize money. The nominations are made by the rectors of the universities.

Research funding

After the budget of the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research , a central institution for the promotion of basic research and an essential source for financing third-party funded projects in Austria, had not been approved by the Ministry for a long time in spring 2009, Hahn made a discussion proposal for a new one in autumn 2009 Research Financing Act, which should legally fix the budget for federal research expenditure until 2020. Public research and development expenditures should increase from 2.5 billion to 5 billion euros per year by 2020. This was intended to increase trust and expand and secure Austria as a research location. Aside from this discussion proposal, however, there has so far been no draft assessment and no government proposal on such a law.

To support research in and about museums, “forMuse”, a funding program endowed with two million euros, was launched in autumn 2009. Initially, according to Hahn, projects from “big houses” will be funded, such as the anthropological collection of the Natural History Museum , the investigation of copper damage to manuscripts in the National Library or research on the expropriation of motor vehicles under the Nazi regime at the Technical Museum Vienna . In a second round, small projects should come into play.

International Relations

Joining the ESO

On July 1, 2008, Austria became the 14th member of the research network of the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (Europe Southern Observatory, ESO), which had existed since 1962 . Hahn himself judged this accession after his decision in April 2008 as the most relevant research policy decision in 20 years, from which not only astronomers, but also physicists, mathematicians, software specialists and high-tech companies will benefit. A quarter of the entry fee is paid for by delivering high-tech, software and know-how. Up to the beginning of 2009, contracts for a total of five million euros had been drawn up, which will benefit Austrian scientists.

Request to leave the CERN project

On May 7, 2009, Hahn announced in the budget subcommittee of the National Council in the course of parliamentary deliberations on the science and research budgets for 2009 and 2010 that he would end the Austrian membership of CERN , which has existed for 50 years, from 2010, as the costs for this would increase would be high. With the membership fee of 16 million euros annually, 70% of the funds available for memberships are tied to CERN membership and thus block more promising ways of research cooperation, which are essential for national profile formation, international presence and competitiveness . Hahn considered participation in the social and human sciences, biological and medical sciences, material sciences, physics and astronomy to be more important than membership of CERN.

This step provoked severe criticism from scientists from Austria and abroad, including some Nobel Prize winners, and caused great concern at CERN about the possible consequences. Scientists announced that this step would jeopardize basic research in particle physics in Austria in the medium to long term. But the planned MedAustron cancer therapy project in Wiener Neustadt would also be jeopardized by the exit. In addition to a government resolution, the approval of the National Council and the Federal President would have been required for an actual exit . On May 18, 2009, Chancellor Werner Faymann publicly spoke out against leaving CERN, whereupon Hahn also gave in.

CETA and TTIP

In contrast to the Austrian government, which is critical of the treatment of the two trade agreements only by the EU, in 2016 he defended the Commission's position that the CETA trade agreement and, subsequently, TTIP should be passed without national parliaments.

Exchange international

In the course of a visit to the People's Republic of China in September 2009, where Austria has had scientific collaborations for a long time, including with Fudan University in Shanghai , Hahn underlined the importance of this collaboration. A possible joint application for the Europe-China Clean Energy Center (EC2), a joint project of the European Union and China, was also announced.

EU commissioner

Johannes Hahn (2009)

Johannes Hahn at the hearing for the von der Leyen Commission (2019)

On 27 October 2009 it was announced that the coalition partners had decided in the federal government for Hahn as new Austrian EU Commissioner in 2010 after Brussels to send and thus to succeed Benita Ferrero-Waldner as an Austrian member of the Barroso II Commission to nominate. On November 5, 2009, the main committee of the National Council approved his nomination. His business area was not yet fixed at this point in time. First of all, he announced that despite his work as EU Commissioner, he would remain chairman of the Vienna ÖVP and as such he wanted to go into the state and municipal council elections in Vienna in 2010 as a top candidate . Since the code of conduct for EU commissioners allows party membership but excludes the exercise of other political offices besides that in the European Commission, it had to refrain from this plan. Christine Marek was his successor in Vienna .

On November 27, 2009, Commission President José Manuel Barroso announced that Hahn would be the Commissioner for Regional Policy. The European Parliament held a hearing at the beginning of 2010, and on January 14, 2010 Hahn answered questions from members of parliament and stated that regional policy was a "European success story" to which there was no alternative. He was particularly committed to promoting education and creativity in Europe. The European Parliament voted on February 9, 2010 with 488 votes in favor, 137 against and 72 abstentions for the new EU Commission. Johannes Hahn was thus able to take up his position as regional commissioner in the college of Commission President José Manuel Barroso for the next five years.

In his role as EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations , Commissioner Hahn initiated a comprehensive reform of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) together with the EU Foreign Representative Federica Mogherini . EU Commission President Juncker had tasked the Commissioner with implementing this reform. A broad consultation on the reform of the ENP was launched in March 2015 .

Since December 1, 2019, he has been EU Commissioner for Budget and Administration in the von der Leyen Commission .

Discussion about Hahn's doctoral thesis

In May 2007, the Salzburg media scientist Stefan Weber accused him of having worked absolutely sloppily in his work and copied pages without citing . However, an expert opinion by the ombudsman of the University of Zurich assessed the passages incriminated by Weber as "not suspected of plagiarism". According to the Viennese philosopher Herbert Hrachovec , who, like the supervisor of Hahn's dissertation, Peter Kampits , teaches at the Institute for Philosophy at the University of Vienna, this report is based on only a small part of the doctoral thesis. Throughout the entire work there are dozens of incorrectly labeled quotes. In June 2009, Hrachovec published a research report in which he analyzed the first 100 pages of the doctoral thesis. He then considered the allegation of plagiarism to be exaggerated, but attested Hahn to "sloppy" citation and the overall lack of scientific level of the work.

“It is a work of inferior quality that borders on the banal and even embarrassing in places. Elementary rules of scientific work have often been disregarded in their writing. The sloppiness borders on negligence. This only has to do with science as a daunting example. "

- Herbert Hrachovec

The University of Vienna investigated the allegations, but refrained from initiating plagiarism checking proceedings because Hahn had never presented someone else's intellectual property as his own. In early 2011, Weber accused the University of Vienna of a lack of interest in investigating the case on the occasion of the plagiarism allegations against Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg against tagesschau.de and again demanded that the academic degree be withdrawn.

At the end of February 2011, the Green MP Peter Pilz commissioned Weber “to look again at Hahn's doctoral thesis”. On April 18, 2011, the University of Vienna announced that it wanted to examine the dissertation after all.

Weber's report, published at the end of May 2011, found that 17.2% of the total number of lines in the work are plagiarized. Hahn's 254-page dissertation therefore contains 76 "plagiarism fragments" on 64 pages. In some cases, the media scientist found unmarked quotations that were copied page by page. The dissertation is more of a "text collage" and cannot be described as a scientific dissertation.

Hahn rejected the renewed allegations of plagiarism as unfounded. Weber's report was "politically motivated, unsurprising and not relevant," said Hahn in a statement. On November 4, 2011, the University of Vienna announced that, in their opinion, the work would not be plagiarized, but “such a dissertation would no longer be accepted [today]”.

Awards (excerpt)

• 2010: Great Golden Decoration on Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 2012: Great Gold Medal for Services to the State of Vienna

Web links

Commons : Johannes Hahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Johannes Hahn (politician) on the website of the Austrian Parliament
• Johannes Hahn on meineabmachen.at
• Dr. Johannes “Gio” Hahn is the new Minister of Science - CV. In: APA-OTS press release of the ÖVP federal party leadership, January 9, 2007.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johannes Hahn becomes master of the funding funds  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Salzburger Nachrichten of November 27, 2009  
2. ↑ Hahn, Johannes: Perspektiven der Philosophie today, represented by the phenomenon of the city. Dissertation, Vienna, 1987, p. 283.
3. ↑ Permalink Austrian Library Association
4. ↑ Dissertation - The Perspectives of Philosophy Today: illustrated by the phenomenon of the city . Retrieved on January 10, 2015 ( PDF )
5. ^ Punch with short, but without governors and FPÖ . Article dated December 4, 2017, accessed December 5, 2017.
6. ↑ Life Ball 2017: Niqab, suspenders, stars and a marriage proposal . Article dated June 11, 2017, accessed December 5, 2017.
7. ^ Hahn: "I am a mixture of firefighter and master builder" . Article dated July 4, 2018, accessed July 4, 2018.
8. ^ Annual report 2003 of Admiral Sportwetten GmbH
9. ^ Die Presse : Hahn wants to reintroduce tuition fees , October 11, 2009
10. ↑ Der Standard : Science Minister presents model: Rejection to brass music & Co , February 10, 2008
11. ↑ Federal Ministry of Science and Research : Legally unambiguous situation regarding student funding correctly implemented , February 5, 2009
12. ↑ ORF : Ministry counters e-voting opponents , January 28, 2009
13. ↑ Ö1 : Trial run for e-voting in the case of ÖH election  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , January 28, 2009  
14. ^ ORF : Hahn defends e-voting , March 15, 2009
15. ^ Die Presse : ÖH election: Bad grades for the e-voting system , February 19, 2009
16. ^ ORF : Constitutional doubts about e-voting , January 8, 2009
17. ↑ ORF : E-Voting: ÖH representatives locate data abuse , February 20, 2009
18. ↑ ORF : ÖH election: E-voting cost almost 900,000 euros , August 26, 2009
19. ↑ ORF / FM4 : ÖH elections 2009: The results , May 28, 2009
20. ^ Die Presse : Uni-Protests: Hahn promises 34 million euros ( Memento of November 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), October 31, 2009
21. ↑ Federal Ministry of Science and Research : Science Minister Hahn invites you to University Dialogue: All university partners at one table , October 30, 2009
22. ^ Die Presse : Officials: FH graduates on an equal footing with academics , July 5, 2007
23. ^ Die Presse : ÖH election: Universities of Applied Sciences celebrate their premiere , February 25, 2009
24. ↑ FHK negotiations successful ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference in November 2007 
25. ^ Federal funding: More money for universities of applied sciences Die Presse of September 14, 2008
26. ↑ Sparkling Science
27. ^ Die Presse : Action: Integrating Emotional Affliction , May 10, 2009
28. ↑ Die Presse : When the Spark hits the boys , November 29, 2009
29. ↑ Der Standard : The sparkling pages of a trade journal , December 1, 2009
30. ↑ Science Book of the Year
31. ^ University of Applied Arts Vienna : Script competition "Wissenschafterin im Film" , March 17, 2009
32. ↑ Die Presse : Scientist in the film: Only with strict hairstyle and glasses , November 18, 2008
33. ↑ Federal Ministry of Science and Research : Kick-off event for the BMWF script award "Women Scientists in Film" , June 9, 2009
34. ↑ frauen-business.at: Sabine Ladstätter and Irene Forstner-Müller for Austrian archeology , October 1st 2010
35. ↑ Federal Ministry of Science and Research : BM Hahn creates award for the best dissertations , September 5, 2008
36. ↑ Der Standard : Award of Excellence for 36 dissertations , December 2, 2009
37. ↑ Der Standard : Hahn: Research is a shy deer , August 27, 2009
38. ↑ forMuse
39. ↑ Der Standard : forMuse: Research in and about museums , October 27, 2009
40. ↑ Die Presse : Astronomy: To the South, to the Stars , April 23, 2008
41. ↑ The Press : Scientists Happy to Join ESO , April 24, 2009
42. ↑ Der Standard : High-performance computer for Viennese astronomers , January 21, 2009
43. ↑ Press release by the Ministry of Science and Research: Johannes Hahn: Austria invests in new developments in European research infrastructure , May 7, 2009
44. ↑ SOS - Save Our Science Petition ( Memento of the original dated May 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 15, 2009  
45. ↑ ORF Lower Austria: Discussions about MedAustron , May 14, 2009, accessed on June 27, 2009
46. ↑ Die Presse : Austria is leaving CERN , May 7, 2009, accessed on October 25, 2009
47. ↑ Der Standard : Cern: Faymann whistles Hahn back , May 18, 2009
48. ↑ EU Commissioner Hahn defends CETA's solo effort by the EU in the Salzburger Nachrichten of June 29, 2016, accessed on July 18, 2016.
49. ^ Der Standard : Asian Connection , September 29, 2009
50. ↑ Johannes Hahn becomes EU Commissioner DerStandard.at on October 27, 2009
51. ↑ EU: Hahn is not allowed to lead the Vienna ÖVP ( memento of October 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), in the Kurier of October 28, 2009
52. ↑ The hearing of Johannes Hahn - Regional Policy  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. European Parliament - Information Office for Austria, notification from January 15, 2010  
53. ↑ Press release -On the way to a new European neighborhood policy: Consultation of the EU on the future direction of its neighborhood policy. European Commission. 4th March 2015.
54. ^ Mandate from Johannes Hahn - Letter from President Juncker November 2014
55. ↑ Joint consultation “Towards a New European Neighborhood Policy.” European Commission. May 27, 2015 ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
56. ↑ "Absolutely sloppy work" ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: orf.at , May 24, 2007, accessed on February 22, 2011. 
57. ↑ Quoted or stolen? The text passages . In: diepresse.com , May 24, 2007, accessed on February 22, 2011.
58. ↑ Hahn's dissertation is “not suspected of plagiarism” . In: Online newspaper of the University of Vienna , June 11, 2007, accessed on February 22, 2010.
59. ^ Science.orf.at - "Doktorvater": Hahn's work was correct . Article from May 25, 2007, accessed on January 10, 2015.
60. ↑ Herbert Hrachovec , Andreas Kirchner: The review period and the minister ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: quatsch , August 14, 2008, accessed on February 22, 2011. a) Tabular overview of the criticized passages Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 68 kB) b) Direct comparison of some selected text passages with those of the original authors: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 484 kB), archived copy ( memento of the original from March 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 518 kB) 
     
      
61. ^ Research report on the dissertation of Johannes Hahn by Herbert Hrachovec

    Part 1 ( Memento from November 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

    Part 2 ( Memento from November 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

62. ↑ Not plucked, but with new feathers . In: oe24.at , October 27, 2009, accessed on February 22, 2011. (Link no longer available)
63. ↑ Niels Nagel: spearhead of the "copy and paste" generation. Interview with a plagiarism hunter . In: tagesschau.de , February 18, 2011, accessed on February 22, 2011.
64. ^ Hahn's doctoral thesis on the test bench again ( memento from February 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), in the courier of February 22, 2011
65. ↑ Internet report of the ORF from April 19, 2011 , accessed on April 19, 2011.
66. ↑ Opinion: Johannes Hahn “obtained” his doctorate degree . In: DerStandard.at , May 23, 2011, accessed on May 23, 2011.
67. ↑ ORF.at , November 4, 2011, accessed on November 4, 2011.
68. ↑ Wiener Zeitung - Hahn - acquittal in case of doubt ( memento of the original from January 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Article dated November 4, 2011. 
69. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
70. ↑ High distinction for EU Commissioner Dr. Johannes Hahn. In: Archive report of the town hall correspondence , April 27, 2012, accessed on July 12, 2019.