Serhiy Tihipko
Encyclopedia
Serhiy Leonidovych Tihipko , 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
.
, in the Lazovskiy district of the Moldovian SSR. 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.
, where he graduated in engineering-metallurgy
from the Metallurgical Institute in 1982.
He served in the Soviet Army in a tank regiment from 1982–1984.
Tihipko was first head of a department, and then deputy director for teaching and educational work at the Dnepropetrovsk Mechanical-Metallurgical Technical Secondary School from 1984–1986. At the same time he developed a strong career in Komsomol
, the youth arm of the Soviet communist party. This enabled him to become First Secretary of Dnepropetrovsk Komsomol regional organization from 1986–1989; there were nearly half a million members of Komsomol in the Dnepropetrovsk region, and Tigipko became its first popularly elected First Secretary in 1989. From 1989-1991, Tihipko was the First Secretary of Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League.
until 1997, helping in taking the small regional bank to become one of the biggest private banks in Eastern Europe."
. He was also an advisor to Kuchma in the lead up to the introduction of the national currency, the Hryvnia in 1996. Realising that there was a conflict of interest between his political role and his shareholding in Privat Bank, he divested himself of the shares
Tigipko served as the minister of economics (1997–1999). 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
. In November 2000 became member and leader of Labour Ukraine
. At the 2002 parliamentary elections
, with the Labour Ukraine being part of the For United Ukraine
alliance, he was again elected into parliament. Tigipko was Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine
in the years 2002-2004.
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, to build up a bank which he sold to Swedbank group
for nearly $1 billion. Tigipko was an ally of former President Leonid Kuchma
. 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.
Korrespondent
estimated his fortune at $369 million in 2009.
in November 2009. In January 2010, Tihipko declared "his team" will participate in the next Kiev local election.
Tihipko was a candidate for President of Ukraine
in the 2010 presidential election
.
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.” Tigipko claims he has spent 90 million Hryvnia (about $11 million) on his election campaign.
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.
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.
Tihipko did not endorse a candidate for the run-off of the election. He did state he would agree to become Prime Minister of Ukraine
under the new President whose program is close to him. Tymoshenko did offer Tihipko to become Prime Minister if she would win the election. 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".
, 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%).
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. 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.
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.
if President
Victor Yanukovych offered him the post. 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
". 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. 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
. On March 11, 2010 Tihipko was elected as one of six deputy Prime Ministers (in charge of economic issues) in the Azarov Government
. 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.
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. Tihipko will become a Party of Regions member after the current negotiations between parties is concluded.
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." 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.
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."
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. 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."
Romanization of Russian
Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
(born February 13, 1960) is a Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
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
National Bank of Ukraine
National Bank of Ukraine is the central bank of Ukraine. Its headquarters building, constructed between 1902 and 1934, is located at no. 9 Institutska St., in Kiev-History:...
from 2002 to 2004. He was a candidate for President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
in the 2010 presidential election
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
.
Early life
Tihipko was born on 13 February 1960 in the village of Drăgăneşti, SîngereiDrăgăneşti, Sîngerei
Drăgăneşti is a commune in Sîngerei district, Moldova. It is composed of three villages: Drăgăneşti, Chirileni and Sacarovca....
, in the Lazovskiy district of the Moldovian SSR. 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.
Education, the army, and the young communist league (Komsomol)
Tihipko was educated at the local school in Lazovskiy district, and then went to university in DnipropetrovskDnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, where he graduated in engineering-metallurgy
Metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
from the Metallurgical Institute in 1982.
He served in the Soviet Army in a tank regiment from 1982–1984.
Tihipko was first head of a department, and then deputy director for teaching and educational work at the Dnepropetrovsk Mechanical-Metallurgical Technical Secondary School from 1984–1986. At the same time he developed a strong career in Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
, the youth arm of the Soviet communist party. This enabled him to become First Secretary of Dnepropetrovsk Komsomol regional organization from 1986–1989; there were nearly half a million members of Komsomol in the Dnepropetrovsk region, and Tigipko became its first popularly elected First Secretary in 1989. From 1989-1991, Tihipko was the First Secretary of Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League.
Banking 1991-1997
"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." 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 PryvatPrivatbank
PrivatBank is the largest commercial bank in Ukraine, in terms of the number of clients, assets value, loan portfolio and taxes paid to the national budget. Unlike most other large Ukrainian banks, PrivatBank is not based in Kiev, the capital city, but is headquartered in Dnipropetrovsk, a smaller...
until 1997, helping in taking the small regional bank to become one of the biggest private banks in Eastern Europe."
Politics again 1994 onwards
In 1994 he became a non-staff consultant on monetary policy to the President Leonid KuchmaLeonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
. He was also an advisor to Kuchma in the lead up to the introduction of the national currency, the Hryvnia in 1996. Realising that there was a conflict of interest between his political role and his shareholding in Privat Bank, he divested himself of the shares
Tigipko served as the minister of economics (1997–1999). 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
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. Its administrative center is Dnipropetrovsk....
. In November 2000 became member and leader of Labour Ukraine
Labour Ukraine
Strong Ukraine ; former Labour Party Ukraine , is a political party in Ukraine registered in August 1999. The party claims to have over 80,000 members as of mid-May 2010. It is currently negotiating a merge with the Party of Regions....
. At the 2002 parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002
Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2002 took place on March 31. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies...
, with the Labour Ukraine being part of the For United Ukraine
For United Ukraine
For United Ukraine was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded in December 2001 to participate in the parliamentary election in held on March 30, 2002.-2002 parliamentary election:...
alliance, he was again elected into parliament. Tigipko was Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine
National Bank of Ukraine
National Bank of Ukraine is the central bank of Ukraine. Its headquarters building, constructed between 1902 and 1934, is located at no. 9 Institutska St., in Kiev-History:...
in the years 2002-2004.
Tihipko chaired the election campaign in 2004 for presidential candidate
Ukrainian presidential election, 2004
The Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 was held on October 31, November 21 and December 26, 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union...
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
. After the election Tigipko temporarily left Ukrainian politics, resigning as Labour Ukraine leader on April 23, 2005, to build up a bank which he sold to Swedbank group
Swedbank
Swedbank AB is a leading Nordic-Baltic banking group with 9.5 million retail customers and 534,000 corporate customers in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In Sweden, the group has 377 branches. In the Baltic countries, it has another 224 branches...
for nearly $1 billion. Tigipko was an ally of former President Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
. Analysts have claimed Kuchma should have given his support to Tihipko during the Ukrainian presidential elections, 2004 instead of supporting Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
, however Yanukovych had more popular support.
Korrespondent
Korrespondent
Korrespondent is a weekly magazine published in Ukraine in Russian and Ukrainian languages. The printed magazine was established in 2002, but it was preceded by the website korrespondent.net that was established already in 2000....
estimated his fortune at $369 million in 2009.
Ukrainian Presidential Election 2010
Tihipko was elected leader of the party Strong UkraineStrong Ukraine
Strong Ukraine ; former Labour Party Ukraine , is a political party in Ukraine registered in August 1999. The party claims to have over 80,000 members as of mid-May 2010. It is currently negotiating a merge with the Party of Regions....
in November 2009. In January 2010, Tihipko declared "his team" will participate in the next Kiev local election.
Tihipko was a candidate for President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
in the 2010 presidential election
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
.
Of the 18 presidential candidates, Tihipko has declared the biggest income to the Ukrainian election Committee
Central Election Commission of Ukraine
The Central Election Commission of Ukraine ; sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian government.- Mission and Authority :...
. He had an income of about $2.5 million in 2008 and told Kyiv Post
Kyiv Post
The Kyiv Post is Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper.-History:The Kyiv Post was founded in September 1995 by an American, Jed Sunden. The paper covers politics, business and entertainment. The staff is a team of Western and Ukrainian journalists. Historically, the editorial policy has...
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.” Tigipko claims he has spent 90 million Hryvnia (about $11 million) on his election campaign.
Tihipko was defeated in the first round of the presidential election, receiving 13.05% of the vote; two candidates (Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...
and Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
) received more votes.
On January 22, 2010, Tihipko warned outgoing president Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
could introduce a state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
during the transfer of power after the presidential election 2010.
Tihipko did not endorse a candidate for the run-off of the election. He did state he would agree to become Prime Minister of Ukraine
Prime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
under the new President whose program is close to him. Tymoshenko did offer Tihipko to become Prime Minister if she would win the election. 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".
Opinion polls
According to a poll by Research & Branding GroupResearch & Branding Group
Research & Branding Group is a Ukrainian non-governmental marketing and sociological research company.Worked with Party of Regions during several latest elections....
, as of November 27 Tigipko was running fifth in polls at 4.4%, behind Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
(32.4%), Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...
(16.3%), Arseniy Yatseniuk (6.1%) and Volodymyr Lytvyn
Volodymyr Lytvyn
Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn is a Ukrainian politician and the current Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Having previously served in that position from 2002 until 2006, he was re-elected in December 2008 after his party agreed to join the former coalition of Yulia...
(4.5%), and ahead of Petro Symonenko
Petro Symonenko
Petro Mykolayovych Symonenko is a Ukrainian politician and the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Symonenko was the Communist Party's candidate in both the 1999 and 2004 presidential elections. During the Ukrainian presidential election, 2010 he was the candidate of the Election...
(3.8%) and incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
(3.5%).
A poll conducted by FOM-Ukraine
FOM-Ukraine
The FOM-Ukraine is political sociology company in Ukraine. It is joint venture of FOM company favoring Viktor Yanukovych were the only allowed to be publicized on TV during Ukrainian presidential election in 2004. All others polling was censored....
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
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
, but as an alternative to fellow candidate Arseniy Yatseniuk. 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.
According to the results of an exit poll initiated by the ICTV TV channel
ICTV (Ukraine)
ICTV is a privately-held TV channel in Ukraine. Its coverage area allows it to be received by 56.6 % of the Ukrainian population, making the channel the fourth in the nation in terms of coverage , and third by the viewers' ratings.The channel is owned by...
, Tihipko would have won the 2010 presidential election if had participated in the second round of the election.
Political career after the Presidential Election 2010
On February 11, 2010 Tihipko stated that he would agree to become Prime Minister of UkrainePrime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
if President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Victor Yanukovych offered him the post. 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
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
". 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. On February 21, 2010 President Yanukovych offered three candidates for the Prime Minister post: Tihipko, Our Ukraine faction member Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Arseniy Yatsenyuk
Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk is a Ukrainian politician, economist and lawyer. Yatsenyuk served in the government of Ukraine as Minister of Economy from 2005 to 2006; subsequently he was Foreign Minister of Ukraine in 2007 and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada from 2007 to 2008.-Early life:Arseniy...
and Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
lawmaker Mykola Azarov
Mykola Azarov
Mykola Yanovych Azarov ; born Nikolai Yanovich Pakhlo on 17 December 1947, is a Ukrainian politician who has been the Prime Minister of Ukraine since 11 March 2010. He was the First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister from 2002 to 2005 and again from 2006 to 2007, and he also served as acting...
. On March 11, 2010 Tihipko was elected as one of six deputy Prime Ministers (in charge of economic issues) in the Azarov Government
Azarov Government
The first Azarov Government was appointed on March 11, 2010 as part of the "Stability and Reform" coalition between the Party of Regions, Lytvyn Bloc and the Communist Party of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament...
. 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.
In August 2011 Tihipko and Prime Minister (and a Party of Regions leader) Mykola Azarov announced that Strong Ukraine
Strong Ukraine
Strong Ukraine ; former Labour Party Ukraine , is a political party in Ukraine registered in August 1999. The party claims to have over 80,000 members as of mid-May 2010. It is currently negotiating a merge with the Party of Regions....
and Party of Regions where going to team up and eventually Strong Ukraine will be merged into POR. Tihipko will become a Party of Regions member after the current negotiations between parties is concluded.
Political positions
Tihipko has said that the country should conduct the most constructive policy possible in relations with neighboring countries, including both Russia and the West. In September 2009 he wrote an article that was published in the Ukrainian edition of Komsomolskaya PravdaKomsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on March 13th, 1925. It is published by "Izdatelsky Dom Komsomolskaya Pravda" .- History :...
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." According to Tihipko (in January 2010) Ukraine is not yet ready to seek membership in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
or NATO and must first focus on forming a unified government that can stimulate the country's economy
Economy of Ukraine
The economy of Ukraine is an emerging free market, with a gross domestic product that fell sharply for the first 10 years of its independence from the Soviet Union and then experienced rapid growth from 2000 until 2008...
. In the long term he seeks European integration for Ukraine.
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."
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. 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."