Ivan Kostov

Ivan Kostov
Ivan Kostov
Иван Костов
	Kostov in 2010
Prime Minister of Bulgaria
	In office; 21 May 1997 – 24 July 2001
President	Petur Stoyanov
Deputy	Evgeni Bakardzhiev; Veselin Metodiev; Alexander Bozhkov
Preceded by	Stefan Sofiyanski
Succeeded by	Simeon Sakskoburggotski
Minister of Finance
	In office; 20 December 1990 – 30 December 1992
Prime Minister	Dimitar Popov; Philip Dimitrov
Preceded by	Belcho Belchev
Succeeded by	Stoyan Alexandrov
Preceded by
Senior political offices
Leader of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria
	In office; 30 May 2004 – 13 May 2013
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Radan Kanev
Leader of the Union of Democratic Forces
	In office; 29 December 1994 – 26 June 2001
Preceded by	Philip Dimitrov
Succeeded by	Ekaterina Mihaylova
Constituency
Parliamentary offices
Member of the National Assembly
	In office; 5 July 2001 – 14 March 2013
Constituency	16th MMC - Plovdiv; (2001-2005); 23rd MMC - Sofia; (2005-2013)
	In office; 12 January 1995 – 21 May 1997
Constituency	16th MMC - Plovdiv
Member of the 7th Grand National Assembly
	In office; 10 July 1990 – 20 December 1990
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	Ivan Yordanov Kostov; 23 December 1949 (age 74); Sofia, PR Bulgaria
Political party	Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (since 2004)
Other political; affiliations	Union of Democratic Forces (until 2003)
Spouse	Elena Kostova (m. 1974)
Children	2
Alma mater	University of National and World Economy; Sofia University
Occupation	Politician; economist; lecturer; author;

Ivan Yordanov Kostov (Bulgarian: Иван Йорданов Костов [iˈvan ˈkɔstof]) (born 23 December 1949) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 1997 to 2001. A member of the SDS party, which he led from 1994 to 2001, he was previously Minister of Finance from 1990 to 1992. Following his premiership, Kostov founded a new political party, the DSB, and served as Member of the National Assembly from 2001 to 2013.

Ivan Kostov graduated in Economics from the Karl Marx Higher Institute of Economics (today's University of National and World Economy) in Sofia in 1974, and later earned a Ph.D. in Mathematical Modeling of Economic Processes from Sofia University.^[1] He then worked as an associate professor at Sofia Technical University and entered politics after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Bulgarian communist leader, Todor Zhivkov. Kostov became an economic expert for the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). His political career began as Member of Parliament in the 7th Grand National Assembly in 1990 (he was an MP from 1990 to 2013) and he went on to become Bulgaria's Finance Minister in the two consecutive governments of Dimitar Popov (December 1990 – October 1991) and Filip Dimitrov (November 1991 – December 1992).^[2]

^ Lilov 2013, p. 150.
^ Lilov 2013, p. 156.

[FOOTNOTELilov2013150-1] Lilov 2013, p. 150.

[FOOTNOTELilov2013156-2] Lilov 2013, p. 156.

[1]

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