Pilar del Castillo

Pilar del Castillo
Minister of Education, Culture and Sport
In office
27 April 2000 – 18 April 2004
Prime Minister José María Aznar
Preceded by Mariano Rajoy
Succeeded by María Jesús San Segundo
Personal details
Born (1952-07-31) 31 July 1952
Nador, Morocco
Political party People's Party
Alma mater Technical University of Madrid
Ohio State University
Complutense University of Madrid
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Del Castillo and the second or maternal family name is Vera.

Pilar del Castillo Vera (Nador, Morocco, 31 July 1952). Minister for Education, Culture and Sport in the Spanish Government, 2000 to 2004.

Early life and education

Law graduate at Complutense University of Madrid, 1974. In 1980 she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship for a master's degree in Political Science at Ohio State University, USA. PhD in Law from Complutense University of Madrid, 1983. Awarded the Spanish Sociological Research Centre Prize for the doctoral thesis 'Political Party Funding in Western Democracies', 1984.

Career

In 1986, Del Castillo became Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law at UNED, and Professor in Political Science and Administration in 1994. Editor-in-Chief of the Journal 'Nueva Revista de Política, Cultura y Arte', 1995-1996. Director of the Spanish Sociological Research Centre, 1996 to 2000. She is author of numerous publications on political parties and electoral behaviour.

Political career

Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, 2000–2004

When Prime Minister José Maria Aznar led his conservative Popular Party to a victory and second term of office at the 2000 national elections, he made Del Castillo his new Minister of Education, Culture and Sport.[1] In this capacity, she was in charge of implementing the government’s 2001 plan to overhaul the country’s public universities; the law prompted the largest student demonstrations since Spain's transition to democracy, with an estimated 100,000 students, university staff protesting nationwide on 1 December 2001.[2]

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–present

Del Castillo has been a Member of the European Parliament since the 2004 European elections. She has since been serving as coordinator for the Group of the European People's Party in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), and as substitute member in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). From 2007 to 2009, she was a member of the Temporary Committee on Climate Change. In addition, she was a member of the EP Delegation for Relations with India (2009-2014) and of the Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China (2004-2009).

In her capacity as member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Del Castillo is the parliament’s rapporteur on a telecoms single market.[3][4] She also served as rapporteur on the Directive on Security of Networks and Information Systems (NIS); the Regulation on the Body of European Regulators in Electronic Communications (BEREC); and on the Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe.[5]

In addition to her committee assignments, Del Castillo holds the following positions in the European Parliament:

Other activities (selection)

Personal life

Del Castillo is passionate about art; her official ministerial portrait in the gallery of the Ministry of Education is a self-portrait.

References

  1. ↑ New reins for Spain Variety, April 28, 2000.
  2. ↑ Emma Daly (December 2, 2001), In Spain, Thousands Protest New Plans for Universities New York Times.
  3. ↑ Sarah Laitner (April 2, 2008), Fresh obstacle to Reding's plan for telecoms 'super' regulator Financial Times.
  4. ↑ Toby Vogel (September 11, 2014), Committees choose rapporteurs European Voice.
  5. ↑ 2016 Speakers: Pilar del Castillo Mobile World Congress.
  6. ↑ Members of the European Parliament Intergroup on Disability European Parliament.
  7. ↑ Pilar del Castillo European Network for Women in Leadership (WIL).
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