Ivan Pilip

Ivan Pilip
2nd Finance Minister of the Czech Republic
In office
3 June 1997 – 22 July 1998
Prime MinisterVáclav Klaus
Josef Tošovský
Preceded byIvan Kočárník
Succeeded byIvo Svoboda
Minister of Education, Youth and Sport
In office
1994–1997
Prime MinisterVáclav Klaus
Preceded byPetr Piťha
Succeeded byJiří Gruša
Personal details
Born (1963-08-04) 4 August 1963 (age 61)
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Political partyKDS
ODS
US–DEU
SpouseLucie Pilipova[1]
ProfessionEconomist

Ivan Pilip (born 4 August 1963 in Prague) is a Czech politician and economist[2] who was finance minister from June 1997 to July 1998, after having been the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport from 1994 to 1997.

Pilip was educated as an economist, before entering politics in the Christian Democratic Party (KDS) after the fall of Communism in the Czech Republic. Pilip served in government from 1992 to 1998, leading the KDS before it merged with the Civic Democratic Party. Pilip was among the deputies who split from the Civic Democrats to form the Freedom Union and in 1998 he went into opposition.

Pilip was detained in Cuba in early 2001 for almost a month after meeting opponents of the Cuban government, before being released after international pressure on Cuba. He lost his seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 2002, but would serve as interim leader of Freedom Union for a period afterwards, before serving as a Vice-President at the European Investment Bank from 2004 to 2007.

  1. ^ Sequera, Vivian (23 January 2001). "Detained Czech's Wife Visits Cuba". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  2. ^ "Ivan Pilip new Vice-President at the EIB". European Investment Bank. 7 June 2004. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2012.