1. Boyko Metodiev Borisov is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria on three separate occasions, serving a total of 9 years between 2009 and 2021, making him the country's longest-serving post-communist Prime Minister.
54 Facts About Boyko Borisov
1. 2.
Boyko Borisov led GERB to a landslide victory in 2009, defeating the incumbent Socialist Party, and resigned as mayor of Sofia to be sworn in as prime minister.
3.
Boyko Borisov resigned in 2013, after nationwide protests against the government's energy policy, but after leading GERB to victory in the 2014 general election, he became prime minister again.
4.
On 17 March 2022, Boyko Borisov was detained after allegations of misuse of EU funds, he was released after spending 24 hours in prison.
5.
In 2013 Boyko Borisov became the oldest person ever to play for a Bulgarian professional club when he appeared for FC Vitosha Bistritsa in the B Group, the second division of Bulgarian football.
6.
Boyko Borisov has claimed that his grandfather was executed by the communists for being a Nikola Petkov supporter in the wake of the Bulgarian coup d'etat of 1944.
7.
Furthermore, Boyko Borisov's later rise within the ranks of communist-era security services would have been unlikely with such family background.
8.
In 1977 Boyko Borisov graduated from Bankya's high school with excellent grades.
9.
From 1985 to 1990, Boyko Borisov was a lecturer at the Higher Institute for Police Officers Training and Scientific Research of the Ministry of Interior.
10.
Boyko Borisov quit the Ministry in 1991 with the rank of major, after formally refusing to renounce his Communist Party membership or "depoliticise".
11.
Boyko Borisov subsequently became bodyguard to Bulgaria's last communist leader, Todor Zhivkov, after the latter was overthrown in 1989, and to Simeon II.
12.
Boyko Borisov has been claiming participation in karate championships since 1978, serving as the coach of the Bulgarian national team and a referee of international matches.
13.
Boyko Borisov said to United States President Barack Obama that he has a 7th dan black belt in karate, but his coach denied this, and stated that Borisov has never been even a karate competitor, but only an administrator of the team.
14.
Boyko Borisov is divorced, but for a number of years lived with Tsvetelina Borislavova, head of Bulgarian American Credit Bank.
15.
Boyko Borisov has a daughter, Veneta, from his former marriage to the physician Stela.
16.
Boyko Borisov was the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior between 2001 and 2005, with the rank of General.
17.
Since 27 July 2009 Boyko Borisov served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria in a GERB-dominated centre-right minority government with parliamentary support from three other parliamentary groups, including the nationalist party Ataka.
18.
Boyko Borisov invited several non-party affiliated experts to the government, most prominent among them Simeon Dyankov, a former high-ranking World Bank official, and Rosen Plevneliev, manager of a large German subsidiary in Bulgaria.
19.
Boyko Borisov's stated policies were mostly aimed at curbing corruption in the public administration and building an adequate infrastructure.
20.
The Boyko Borisov government stopped the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
21.
Boyko Borisov is a strong supporter of the total smoking ban.
22.
Boyko Borisov was replaced by Anna-Maria Borisova, whom Boyko Borisov met accidentally on an intersection near Veliko Tarnovo and decided was fit to carry out the reform.
23.
Boyko Borisov resigned a mere six months later, failing to implement any reforms.
24.
Boyko Borisov was regarded as able manager of the public administration.
25.
Boyko Borisov's government saw the cancellation of the South Stream gas pipeline project.
26.
Boyko Borisov received Order of the Republic of Serbia in February 2019.
27.
Boyko Borisov thanked the Serbian president in the name of Bulgarian people, promised to further help Serbian EU agenda and the overall relations of the two neighboring states.
28.
In October 2019 Boyko Borisov urged European Union to stop its criticism of Turkey, adding that Bulgaria's relations with Turkey are good-neighbourly.
29.
Boyko Borisov spent much of his term locked in an institutional war with President Rumen Radev, the latter an opposition-sponsored independent and former Air Force General that defeated Boyko Borisov's preferred candidate in the 2016 Bulgarian presidential election.
30.
Similarly, Boyko Borisov promised to do more in order to promote "youth" within the GERB party.
31.
For one, Boyko Borisov contested claims made by Caretaker Finance Minister, Asen Vasilev, that the government budget lacked funds by pointing to the continuation of COVID-era fiscal policies.
32.
Boyko Borisov further criticized changes made within the civil service by the Caretaker Government, claiming that they were done in the interest of President Radev.
33.
In turn, Rashkov accused Boyko Borisov of being potentially implicit in criminal activity and of being protected by the General Prosecutor, Ivan Geshev.
34.
On 15 July 2021, Boyko Borisov was interrogated by members of the Ministry of Interior in relation to criminal activity.
35.
Boyko Borisov further alleged that the Caretaker Cabinet was involved in attempts to "manipulate" the election results.
36.
On 6 January 2022, Boyko Borisov was called for an interrogation by the Ministry of Interior in relation to an ongoing case surrounding money laundering and corruption, with Boyko Borisov denying all allegations against his person.
37.
On 17 March 2022, Boyko Borisov was arrested by the Ministry of Interior, together with former Minister of Finance, Vladislav Goranov and GERB media-advisor Sevdalina Arnaudova.
38.
Bokyo Boyko Borisov was accused of mafia ties by former ambassador to Bulgaria John Beyrle in 2006, in a leaked memo published by Wikileaks, of facilitating and covering up illegal deals with LUKOIL and trafficking methamphetamines.
39.
In 2007 Boyko Borisov was accused by the magazine US Congressional Quarterly of being directly linked to the biggest mobsters in Bulgaria.
40.
The tapes reveal that Boyko Borisov instructed customs authorities to immediately stop their investigation of "Ledenika" brewery which had been suspected of illegal activities and tax crimes.
41.
In 2011 reports surfaced that Boyko Borisov had paid cash to journalists to portray him favourably, and threatened others who criticized him as early as 2005.
42.
Boyko Borisov added that the human material that they are left with as voters and as a pool for recruiting staff is really not that big, as half a million people have left Bulgaria.
43.
Boyko Borisov denied these accusations and in turn accused the Bulgarian Socialist Party of attempting to discredit him.
44.
Boyko Borisov stated in a meeting with NGOs on 5 March 2009 that he intends to include representatives of the Roma ethnicity in all levels of government, including a potential minister, and has reached out to offer inclusivity to Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish population; although these measures and proposals have been seen as politically empty.
45.
Boyko Borisov had marked a very wide media presence, being regularly cited in most major media outlets and had made a total of 1,157 statements from his election until the end of 2010.
46.
Boyko Borisov has been the subject of a number of sycophantic plaudits on the part of his supporters, including a poem lauding his "dignified leadership".
47.
Boyko Borisov wants to hear all sides, make them believe that he has taken their side.
48.
Boyko Borisov thinks that he needs to take on all positions at once.
49.
Boyko Borisov is more pro-American, pro-Russian and pro-European than anyone else.
50.
In June 2020, photographs emerged that purported to show what appeared to be Prime Minister Boyko Borisov laying half-naked on a bed, next to a nightstand featuring a handgun and stacks of euro banknotes.
51.
Boyko Borisov confirmed that the room in which the photos were taken was his, but denied the gun and money, stating that the images could have been manipulated.
52.
Boyko Borisov accused President Rumen Radev of flying a consumer drone into his residence to take the pictures.
53.
Boyko Borisov added that he owns a drone, but that the accusation that he personally piloted it into the prime minister's residence to take pictures was part of Borisov's "fantasy and paranoia".
54.
In November 2021, a new batch of photos allegedly from Boyko Borisov's bedroom were released to the media.