predecessor successor birth_place president party office birth_date term_start image article_title term_end name alma_mater
Štefan paweł samecki füle -lrb- enlargement and european neighbourhood policy -rrb- corina crețu vienna , austria jean-claude juncker josé manuel barroso people 's party european european commissioner for regional policy commissioner for european neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations 2 december 1957 1 november 2014 9 february 2010 johanneshahnportrait.jpg johannes hahn
 1 november 2014 johannes hahn university of vienna
johannes hahn

johannes hahn -lrb- born 2 december 1957 -rrb- is an austrian politician , who since november 2014 is commissioner for european neighbourhood policy & enlargement negotiations .
he previously served as european commissioner for regional policy in the second barroso commission , succeeding benita ferrero-waldner as austria 's eu representative .
during his term as eu commissioner for regional policy -lrb- february 2010-november 2014 -rrb- johannes hahn implemented the most ambitious and comprehensive reform of eu regional policy so far .
the main achievement of the reform is the transformation of regional policy from a subvention into a genuine investment policy , closely linked with eu economic governance and macro-economic conditions .
this allows e.g. to modify programmes to support key structural reforms .
the reform refocuses investments in the real economy and on priority areas which create sustainable jobs and foster growth such as the low carbon economy , support for small and medium enterprises , innovation & research , education and training .
the introduction of clearly defined conditions as well as a better evaluation system make sure that the principle of `` better spending '' is actually safeguarded .
based on the new regulation , most european regions have developed so called smart specialisation strategies to identify their particular strengths and potentials as the basis for investments .
despite cuts in the overall eu budget , eu commissioner johannes hahn succeeded to keep the high level of financial support for strategic investments in the new period -lrb- 2014-2020 -rrb- : funding for regional and cohesion policy in 2014-2020 amounts to 351,8 bn eur .
the reform , endorsed by the council of the european union and the european parliament with overwhelming majority and strongly supported also by stakeholders and the committee of the regions , established hahn 's reputation as a `` forward looking , bold reformer '' .
more detailed information on the fundamental reform of regional policy can be found here : cohesion policy reform in 10 points the reform of cohesion policy in his new portfolio , commissioner hahn launched , together with high representative of the european union for foreign affairs and security policy federica mogherini , a comprehensive reform of the european neighbourhood policy -lrb- enp -rrb- , as mandated by commission president jean-claude juncker .
dr. hahn is a member of the Österreichische volkspartei -lrb- Övp -rrb- and the european people 's party -lrb- epp -rrb- .
in february 2011 , renewed allegations of plagiarism on his doctoral thesis emerged .
in november 2011 johannes hahn was cleared of all allegations regarding `` plagiarism '' in a comprehensive analysis of his thesis .
the analytical study was mandated by the university of vienna and carried out by independent international scientific experts .
