Monday

11th Dec 2023

Exclusive

EU commissioner lobbied by energy firm he owns shares in

  • Johannes Hahn is the European Commissioner for budget and administration. He also owns 2,200 shares in Austria's largest electricity-provider (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn owns 2,200 shares in Austria's largest electricity-provider Verbund AG whilst actively being lobbied by the firm.

Hahn has had those shares since 2014, when he first became enlargement commissioner under Jean-Claude Juncker. They have since more than tripled in value, going from €32,813 in 2014 to €113,190 as of the end of last year.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

In January, his head of cabinet met with Verbund AG shortly after the European Commission had unveiled its European Green Deal to go carbon-neutral by 2050.

Verbund AG spends up to €400,000 lobbying Brussels and had received a €2m research grant from the European Commission. Its interest include energy and financial market legislation.

A few days later his cabinet met with the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers and then Eurogas. Both have a history of trying to weaken climate policy.

Hahn had also doubled the value of his shares in the Austrian real estate firm CA Immobilien Anlagen over the same period of time, among a handful of other companies he has a direct financial interest in.

'Procedures followed'

Asked directly if Hahn had sold off his shares since taking his new office in December, a spokesperson from the European Commission talked about procedures, in a somewhat obfuscated response.

"What I can tell you is that the parliamentary process, which led to the appointment of this commission - which involves scrutiny over ethical rules in relation into each individual commissioner - has looked carefully at their situation," she said on Wednesday (12 February).

The issue has already been raised earlier this week by left-leaning MEPs Daniel Freund and Manon Aubry who demanded the European Commission publish updated declarations of financial interests for all the commissioners.

Freund, who previously worked at Transparency International, an NGO, had accused the commission of breaching its own code of conduct rules.

Those rules require the European Commission to update declarations of financial interests every year on 1 January.

"This is particularly problematic because promises were made during the Commissioner's hearings, like selling of company shares. This must be corrected quickly," said Freund, in an emailed statement.

He noted that commissioner candidates Elisa Ferreira and Stella Kyriakides only got the green light from the European Parliament's legal affairs committee to advance in their hearings after they claimed to have sold their shares. The same committee had demanded that Hahn do the same.

For its part, the commission claims it has done nothing wrong.

It says commissioners are indeed required to submit their updated declarations at the start of January. It says they are then screened, under the authority of European commission president Von der Leyen.

"In the present case, they are expected to be published in February," said another commission spokesperson, in an email.

Hahn is not alone in owning shares in major corporations. Italy's economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni owns shares in Amazon, Campari, Expedia, among others.

Commission defends Breton's Atos over police data

The European Commission defended Atos for hosting EU police data, despite its own public guidelines that state operational and technical copies should not be entrusted to third parties. Atos former CEO Thierry Breton is set to become a European commissioner.

Exclusive

Italian energy giant director advising EU foreign policy chief

Italian multinational oil and gas company ENI has a board member advising the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. The European Commission appears to have been kept in the dark over the affair until NGOs starting asking questions.

Green NGOs demand EU dumps controversial energy treaty

Following the first round of negotiations for the Energy Charter Treaty reform, green groups renew their call to the EU and member states to jointly withdraw from the agreement - claiming it is cannot be aligned with the Green Deal.

Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies

Disruption at the Polish-Ukrainian border by disaffected Polish truckers is escalating, potentially affecting delivery of military aid to Ukraine. A Polish request to reintroduce permits for Ukrainian drivers has been described as "a shot to the head" during war.

Agenda

Final EU summit of 2023 plus rule of law in Spain This WEEK

EU leaders will gather in Brussels for their final summit of 2023, with a tough agenda that includes Ukraine, the Middle East, enlargement, and the revision of the EU budget, including €50bn financial aid for Kyiv.

Opinion

Why this week's EU summit must agree a new budget deal

There are claims by some member states that there are pots of unused cash sloshing around in the EU's coffers. This is simply untrue. By European Parliament budget rapporteur MEPs Jan Olbyrcht and Margarida Marques.

Latest News

  1. How EU must follow through on Iran womens' Sakharov prize
  2. COP28 focuses on EU failure to cut livestock emissions
  3. Final EU summit of 2023 plus rule of law in Spain This WEEK
  4. Why this week's EU summit must agree a new budget deal
  5. How Moldova is trying to control tuberculosis
  6. Many problems to solve in Dubai — honesty about them is good
  7. Sudanese fleeing violence find no haven in Egypt or EU
  8. How should EU reform the humanitarian aid system?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us