| Serhiy Tihipko Сергій Тiгiпко |
|
|---|---|
| Vice Prime Minister | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office March 11, 2010 |
|
| Prime Minister | Mykola Azarov |
| Preceded by | Various (see Second Tymoshenko Government) |
| Minister of Economics | |
| In office December 31, 1999 – July 5, 2000 |
|
| President | Leonid Kuchma |
| Prime Minister | Viktor Yushchenko |
| Preceded by | Vasyl Rohovyi |
| Succeeded by | Vasyl Rohovyi |
| Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine | |
| In office December 17, 2002 – December 16, 2004 |
|
| Preceded by | Volodymyr Stelmakh |
| Succeeded by | Volodymyr Stelmakh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sergei Leonidovych Tigipko February 13, 1960 Dragoneshty, Moldovan SSR |
| Nationality | Ukrainian |
| Political party | Strong Ukraine (since November 2009)[1][2] Tigipko will join Party of Regions after the current negotiations merging both parties is concluded[3][4][5] |
| Other political affiliations |
Labour Ukraine (2000-2004) |
| Children | Hanna (born 1984) |
| Occupation | politician |
| Website | www.tigipko.com |
Serhiy Leonidovych Tihipko (Ukrainian: Сергій Леонідович Тiгiпко[6]), or Sergey (Sergei) Leonidovich Tigipko in the Russian transliteration (born February 13, 1960) is a Ukrainian politician and finance specialist who has been Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine since 2010. Tihipko was Minister of Economics in 2000 and subsequently served as Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine from 2002 to 2004. He was a candidate for President of Ukraine in the 2010 presidential election.
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Tihipko was born on 13 February 1960 in the village of Drăgăneşti, Sîngerei, in the Lazovskiy district of the Moldovian SSR.[7] His father fought in World War II where he was badly wounded, and died when Tigipko was 10. His mother was a village nurse. He had two brothers: one six years older, and one two years younger.[7]
Tihipko was educated at the local school in Lazovskiy district, and then went to university in Dnipropetrovsk, where he graduated in engineering-metallurgy from the Metallurgical Institute in 1982.[7]
He served in the Soviet Army in a tank regiment from 1982–1984.[7]
Tihipko was first head of a department, and then deputy director for teaching and educational work at the Dnipropetrovsk Mechanical-Metallurgical Technical Secondary School from 1984–1986.[7] At the same time he developed a strong career in Komsomol, the youth arm of the Soviet communist party.[7] This enabled him to become First Secretary of Dnipropetrovsk Komsomol regional organization from 1986–1989;[7] there were nearly half a million members of Komsomol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and Tigipko became its first popularly elected First Secretary in 1989.[7] From 1989-1991, Tihipko was the First Secretary of Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League.[7]
"After the break up of the Soviet Union and the results of the political power struggles that followed he decided to put his political interests aside and start a business career as a manager in a private bank. This was an undeveloped industry in the early stages of the former Soviet Union and it turned out to be a shrewd move."[7] He "made swift progress and from 1991-1992 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of a small commercial bank called Dnipro Bank. From there he became Chairman of the Board of the commercial bank Pryvat until 1997, helping in taking the small regional bank to become one of the biggest private banks in Eastern Europe."[7]
In 1994 he became a non-staff consultant on monetary policy to the President Leonid Kuchma.[7] He was also an advisor to Kuchma in the lead up to the introduction of the national currency, the Hryvnia in 1996.[7] Realising that there was a conflict of interest between his political role and his shareholding in Privat Bank, he divested himself of the shares[7]
Tigipko served as the minister of economics (1997–1999).[8][9] In June 2000 Tigipko left the Yushchenko Government to take part in a parliamentary by-election on June 25, and eventually won a seat at the majoritarian constituency #36 in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.[9] In November 2000 became member and leader of Labour Ukraine.[9] At the 2002 parliamentary elections, with the Labour Ukraine being part of the For United Ukraine alliance, he was again elected into parliament.[10] Tigipko was Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine in the years 2002-2004.[11]
Tihipko chaired the election campaign in 2004 for presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych. After the election Tigipko temporarily left Ukrainian politics, resigning as Labour Ukraine leader on April 23, 2005,[12] to build up a bank which he sold to Swedbank group for nearly $1 billion.[13] Tigipko was an ally of former President Leonid Kuchma.[14] Analysts have claimed Kuchma should have given his support to Tihipko during the Ukrainian presidential elections, 2004 instead of supporting Viktor Yanukovych, however Yanukovych had more popular support.[15][16]
Korrespondent estimated his fortune at $369 million in 2009.[17]
Tihipko was elected leader of the party Strong Ukraine in November 2009.[18][19] In January 2010, Tihipko declared "his team" will participate in the next Kiev local election.[20]
Tihipko was a candidate for President of Ukraine in the 2010 presidential election.[21][22]
Of the 18 presidential candidates, Tihipko has declared the biggest income to the Ukrainian election Committee. He had an income of about $2.5 million in 2008 and told Kyiv Post he had spent roughly the same amount on his presidential campaign till December 2009. “I will spend as much as I need. This is my own money.”[17] Tigipko claims he has spent 90 million Hryvnia (about $11 million[23]) on his election campaign.[24]
Tihipko was defeated in the first round of the presidential election, receiving 13.05% of the vote; two candidates (Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych) received more votes.[25][26][27]
On January 22, 2010, Tihipko warned outgoing president Viktor Yushchenko could introduce a state of emergency during the transfer of power after the presidential election 2010.[28]
Tihipko did not endorse a candidate for the run-off of the election.[29] He did state he would agree to become Prime Minister of Ukraine under the new President whose program is close to him.[30] Tymoshenko did offer Tihipko to become Prime Minister if she would win the election.[31] While (then) candidate Victor Yanukovych stated that Tihipko and (another 2010 presidential candidate) Arseniy Yatseniuk would "have a good chance to be in the team that will unite Ukraine and will build our country together with me".[32]
According to a poll by Research & Branding Group, as of November 27 Tigipko was running fifth in polls at 4.4%, behind Viktor Yanukovych (32.4%), Yulia Tymoshenko (16.3%), Arseniy Yatseniuk (6.1%) and Volodymyr Lytvyn (4.5%), and ahead of Petro Symonenko (3.8%) and incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko (3.5%).[33]
A poll conducted by FOM-Ukraine in late November placed him in third place at 7.4%, with 23% of the respondents stating that they consider Tigipko "a promising young politician whom they would like to see at the presidential elections." Director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko thought that this third-place by Tihipko could be explained by the fact that some voters started to consider Tihipko not only an alternative to the leader of the Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych, but as an alternative to fellow candidate Arseniy Yatseniuk.[34] According to a Russian poll taken in the last week of the campaign, Serhiy Tihipko was to be the unexpected outsider, snapping the second place from Tymoshenko.[35]
According to the results of an exit poll initiated by the ICTV TV channel, Tihipko would have won the 2010 presidential election if had participated in the second round of the election.[36]
On February 11, 2010 Tihipko stated that he would agree to become Prime Minister of Ukraine if President Victor Yanukovych offered him the post.[30] On February 15 Yanukovych stated "I do not rule out the candidature of Tihipko. Tigipko is on the list which, in my opinion, will be discussed next week in parliament".[37] On February 17, 2010 Tihipko stated that he had met Yanukovych twice after the election to discuss issues of the country's development and that he had reached no agreement with the parliamentary faction of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc regarding their support of his candidacy for the post of Prime Minister.[38] On February 21, 2010 President Yanukovych offered three candidates for the Prime Minister post: Tihipko, Our Ukraine faction member Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Party of Regions lawmaker Mykola Azarov.[39] On March 11, 2010 Tihipko was elected as one of six deputy Prime Ministers (in charge of economic issues[40]) in the Azarov Government.[41] This cabinet was reshuffled in December 2010; according to Deputy Head of the Situations Modelling Agency Oleksiy Holobutsky this resulted in Tigipko being responsible for all unpopular reforms.[42]
In August 2011 Tihipko and Prime Minister (and a Party of Regions leader) Mykola Azarov announced that Strong Ukraine and Party of Regions where going to team up and eventually Strong Ukraine will be merged into POR.[43] Tihipko will become a Party of Regions member after the current negotiations between parties is concluded.[5][3][4]
Tihipko has said that the country should conduct the most constructive policy possible in relations with neighboring countries, including both Russia and the West.[44][45][46] In September 2009 he wrote an article that was published in the Ukrainian edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda in which he criticized Kyiv's foreign policy over the past five years, saying its goal had been to "participate in a cordon sanitaire" around Russia, which has done "enormous economic damage" to Ukraine, weakened Ukraine’s position in the post-Soviet realm, and turned Moscow into a "powerful opponent of Ukrainian interests."[47] According to Tihipko (in January 2010) Ukraine is not yet ready to seek membership in the European Union or NATO and must first focus on forming a unified government that can stimulate the country's economy. In the long term he seeks European integration for Ukraine.[23]
Tihipko supports legalization of prostitution in Ukraine. He stated, "...we should not be hypocrites. If certain things exist we should speak about them openly and resolve [them] if necessary."[48]
Tihipko supports the privatization of Ukraine's gas-pipeline system and its joint management by Russia and Europe, but warned that he would "not support the seizure of the pipeline" by Russia, which he believes the conditions are being set for.[49] He was critical about the April 2010 natural gas agreement stating that while the deal might make economic sense "The procedure of debating the agreement and completing it behind closed doors is not what the Ukrainian people want."[50]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Volodymyr Stelmakh |
Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine 2002–2004 |
Succeeded by Volodymyr Stelmakh |
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