Ivan Kostov

Ivan Kostov (2010)

Iwan Jordanow Kostow (also written Ivan Yordanov Kostov, Bulgarian Иван Йорданов Костов ; born December 23, 1949 in Sofia ) is a Bulgarian politician and former prime minister .

Studies and professional career

Kostow completed a degree in economics at the Karl Marx Institute for Economics in Sofia , from which he graduated in 1974 . He completed another degree in mathematics with a doctorate in Philosophiae Doctor ( Ph. D. ) at St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia with a topic on the mathematical representation of economic processes .

Subsequently he was a lecturer at the Technical University from 1974 to 1981, before he was appointed Associate Professor at the Technical University of Sofia in 1982 .

Political career

Member of Parliament and Minister of Finance

Kostow began his political career only in 1990 after the collapse of the communist government of Todor Zhivkov, which began with the fall of the Berlin Wall . First he became an economic expert of the anti-communist Union of Democratic Forces ( Sajus na Demokratitschni Sili ), which was newly founded in 1990 .

For the SDS, he was elected member of the National Assembly for the first time in 1990. Since 2004 he has been a member of the National Assembly as a member of the DSB.

On December 7, 1990, he was appointed finance minister in the government of Prime Minister Dimitar Popov . He then took on the post of finance minister in the government of Prime Minister Filip Dimitrov from November 8, 1991 to December 30, 1992.

Party leader and prime minister

In December 1994 he was elected chairman of the SDS. He held this office until July 2001.

After the victory of the SDS in the elections to the National Assembly on April 19, 1997, in which the SDS received 52.3 percent of the vote and 137 of the 240 parliamentary seats, he became Prime Minister on May 21, 1997 as successor to Stefan Sofijanski .

His government, which ran until July 24, 2001, was the first post-communist government to remain in office for the entire four-year election period despite the tense economic situation. During his tenure, a currency council was set up to combat inflation and the Bulgarian currency was pegged to the DM (1999 to the euro). In addition, long-delayed economic reforms such as the adaptation of the laws to the market economy and the privatization of state-owned companies were implemented, but also talks on accession negotiations with the European Union , which ultimately led to Bulgaria's accession to the European Union on January 1, 2007.

Despite the Yugoslav crisis, which was extremely detrimental to the Bulgarian economy, the government managed to turn things around, resulting in political and economic stabilization. Domestically, however, the government's decision to allow NATO aircraft to fly freely in Bulgarian airspace to bomb neighboring Yugoslavia, which led to protests among the Bulgarian population, hurt the government. On the other hand, however, the economic reforms led to a massive rise in unemployment , which was sharply criticized by the mass media , which was still run by former communist functionaries , and which also led to (although not proven) allegations of corruption . On April 7, 1999, his government survived a vote of no confidence with 139 to 87 votes and on February 16, 2001 with 135 to 74 votes.

In the elections to the National Assembly on June 17, 2001, the SDS was defeated by the Simeon II National Movement (NDSV) founded by the former Tsar Simeon II (Simeon Sakskoburggotski ). This then followed him on July 21, 2001 as Prime Minister. After his election defeat, in which the SDS lost 86 parliamentary seats, Kostow also resigned the chairmanship of the SDS and later resigned from the party.

In 2004 he founded a new political party with the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria . After his re-election as chairman of the DSB in July 2007, Kostow is the main opposition politician against the coalition government (2005–2009) of the Bulgarian Socialist Party , the NDSV and the Turkish Minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS). He is considered one of the fiercest opponents of Ahmed Dogan , the chairman of the DPS.

On January 11, 2012, at Kostov's suggestion, the Bulgarian parliament unanimously passed a declaration against the assimilation policy of the former totalitarian regime towards the Muslim minority .

After the lost parliamentary elections in 2013 , in which the DSB failed to enter parliament, Kostow announced his resignation as party chairman. On June 23, 2013 Radan Kanew was elected as the new chairman of the DSB on Kostov's proposal.

Web links

Commons : Iwan Kostow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Biographical information in rulers.org
• A man of the market. Article in Die Zeit (issue 18/1997)
• Biography in the database www.omda.bg

Individual evidence

1. ^ List of the most important Bulgarian ministers since 1944
2. ↑ в-к Дума, С., год. Х, бр. 99, петък, 30 април 1999, Удариха София , Ракета на НАТО разруши къща в "Горна Баня" , с. 1
3. ↑ Bulgaria condemns the forced assimilation of one million Turks
4. ↑ Bulgaria recognizes the assimilation of the Turks ( Memento from January 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ [1]
6. ↑ Radan Kanew is the new chairman of the DSB (Bulgarian) , mediapool.bg, June 23, 2013