Pilar del Castillo is a Member of the European Parliament from Spain. She belongs to the Partido Popular (People’s Party), which in turn is a member of the European People’s Party.
Former Minister of Education, Culture and Sport from 2000 to 2004, Dr. del Castillo was elected to the European Parliament for the first time in 2004.
She belongs to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), in which she served as Coordinator of the EPP group during the last term.
She has been the rapporteur of the Telecoms Single Market Regulation; the Directive on Security of Networks and Information Systems for the ITRE committee; the Regulation on the Body of European Regulators in Electronic Communications' (BEREC); the report on Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe and the Report "A Digital Agenda for Europe: 2015.eu, to name just a few examples.
She is member of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with Brazil. She belonged to the Delegation for relations with India between 2009 and 2014, and to the Delegation for relations with China between 2004 and 2009.
Del Castillo is the Chair of the European Internet Foundation and member of the European Energy Forum and of the Transatlantic Policy Network.
She is Member of the Boards of Trustees of the Prado Museum and the Spanish Foundation for Social Studies and Analysis (FAES).
Del Castillo is Professor in Political Science and Administration. She obtained a PhD in Law from Universidad Complutense. Before, she had attended Ohio State University on a Fulbright scholarship, graduating with a Master’s degree in Political Science. She was the Executive President of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Sociology Research Centre) from 1996 to 2000. She is the author of numerous publications and member of various national and international political science and sociology associations.
