EU Commissioner steps down
Hahn: “Europe intellectually prepared for Trump”
In his last press conference, outgoing EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn expressed his conviction that Europe is "intellectually prepared" for a US President Donald Trump. He also gave concrete examples of this.
As examples of Europe's preparation, Hahn cited reports commissioned by the Commission, such as those on promoting competitiveness by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi: "It is time to translate what we know into concrete measures."
For the outgoing EU Commissioner, Europe's main task now is to "protect European life in an increasingly complex world. We must act appropriately."
"Now is not the time to go it alone"
The ÖVP politician also sees a "worrying political situation in the Member States: A 'Austria or Sweden first' approach does not work." Now is not the "time to go it alone", "unity among the Member States" is important.
Europe's main task now is to protect European life in an increasingly complex world.
Johannes Hahn
Hahn's reckoning with right-wing populists
He has harsh words for the right-wing populists: "Populists only produce slogans, but no solutions. When they have to find solutions, they fail." Hahn quoted the German CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble: "Governing is a rendezvous with reality."
Linking EU funding with conditions "common practice today"
For Hahn, the introduction of "conditionality", i.e. linking the disbursement of EU funds to the fulfillment of conditions, is a key moment of his time in Brussels. According to the Austrian, this idea was "completely new" when he started in Brussels as Regional Commissioner in 2010, "today it is common practice".
Due to concerns about the rule of law, several billion euros in EU funds intended for Hungary were frozen in 2022 as part of the "conditionality mechanism". In order for these funds to flow, Budapest must comply with reforms demanded by the EU, for example in the judiciary; some of the funds have already been released.
Corona pandemic shaped Hahn's time in office
Hahn's time in office as Budget Commissioner also saw the coronavirus pandemic and the creation of the EU Coronavirus Fund (Recovery and Resilience Facility). "There is now a lot of criticism of the ARF concept," admitted the Commissioner responsible. But: "At the end of 2021, Europe recovered from the coronavirus pandemic a year earlier than predicted, then came the Ukraine war," he said, defending his concept as "successful". Now it's about "learning how to implement this in the future". He is in favor of ideas to merge parts of the Cohesion Fund with the ARF, because "the critics of more than 500 programs should be taken seriously".
Hahn did not mention any concrete plans for the time after the EU Commission: he would first have to get used to life as a pensioner.
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