QUOTE-UNQUOTE

The people placed their bet on evil. Evil won, so did the people.

Bringing back paper ballots is a pogrom against democracy.

Kiril Petkov, Changes Continued

Boyko Borisov has dreamed for long to become an Ahmed Dogan in Bankya.

Gen Atanas Atanasov, leader of the DSB

Talking about the war as if it were a video game is a dangerous hobby. Russia's war on Ukraine is not a simulation.

Caretaker Prime Minister Galab Donev

It will be easier for us to forge a British rather than a Bulgarian government.

Solomon Pasi, president of the Bulgarian Atlantic Club

Instead of getting worse, the situation is becoming hopeless.

Former Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov just before he was elected speaker of the new National Assembly

Having a government just for the winter sounds like having a girlfriend just for the summer.

Radan Kanev, EMP

If they were in Rome, Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev would put Brutus at the top of their ballots.

Slavi Trifonov, leader of the There Is Such a People party

We are brutally attacked by organsied criminals who want to stop us from taking their money.

Kiril Petkov, Changes Continued

I have never lied to the Bulgarians, this is why they kept electing me for years.

Boyko Borisov, GERB

I will speak out, you will see me, but you will hear the words of Mr Slavi Trifonov.

Toshko Yordanov, MP for the There Is Such a People party

Kiril Petkov would have had a long political career if he did not talk like this.

Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova

We already showed that we are not an outgoing government. The Bulgarian government and institutions are still in place and no one is above the law.

It's a spiral. They have entered a spiral. And it's very, very difficult to get out of that spiral.

Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania, on Bulgaria's stance on North Macedonia's EU membership application

GERB is a German shepherd that can do the job. Changes Continued are Chihuahuas. Everyone likes them, but they can't do the job.

Delyan Dobrev, MP for GERB

Do not interpret my criticism as a desire to topple the government.

President Rumen Radev

If the most Russia dependent country with the lowest per capita GDP in the EU can afford to stand up to Putin, everyone should be able to stand up to Putin.

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in the New York Times

Mr Radev's position that if we provide weapons to Ukraine we will prolong the conflict is a disgrace.

Even if you shut us down, organised crime will gladly welcome us.

Vilislava Angelova, judge at the Specialised Criminal Court

I used to think that in the general scheme of things truth does not matter.

General Prosecutor Ivan Geshev

Do not be afraid, Bulgarians. Inflation will only get worse.

Financial expert Mika Zaykova

As a Defence Minister I have no right of personal opinion.

We have enough sunflower oil to drown the country.

Economy Minister Kornelia Ninova on rumours of sunflower oil shortages 

The ruling coalition is cracking along geopolitical lines.

Daniel Mitov, GERB

Borisov's claim that he would fix all current problems in a day is extremely brazen. Where was he in the past 10 years?

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov

Dudes, you are not gods.

Toshko Yordanov, MP for There Is Such a People, to GERB who wanted a longer vacation in December and January on religious grounds

Fulfilling all of our goals in the set timeframe will be hard, but we all realise that you can eat an elephant a bite at a time.

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov

I will ban the State Railway bosses from using government cars. Let them travel by train.

Borisov's talk is the result of guilty hysteria because he is the reason for the ruinous state of the Bulgarian healthcare system. He had 12 years to reform it, to build a specialised paediatric hospital, to buy medical helicopters and to keep young doctors in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev

We are living in the experiment of a majority that does not believe in science.

The healthcare minister was left like a lone pillar, trying to withstand overwhelming waves from all directions.

Dr Ivan Madzharov, chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Association

We are facing a serious crisis.

Diyan Stamatov, school principal, on the consequences of online education

Yes, we made mistakes in the management of the Covid-19 crisis and we are ready to pay the political price.

We know who got the loans but we do not know on what conditions. The management continues to withhold this information.

Economy Minister Kiril Petkov on the state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank, which was supposed to finance small and mid-size businesses but lent 3 billion leva to only 20 people

The refusal of the General Prosecutor's Office to disclose which cases it has referred to the European Public Prosecutor's Office is strange.

Transparent elections will be possible only if Borisov's shadow state is dismantled.

Atanas Atanasov, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria

The criteria are problematic and should be revised. We are trying to create mechanisms to prevent this from happening in the future.

Atanas Pekanov, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister on the plan for Bulgaria's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic prepared by Boyko Borisov's government

GERB are tired of ruling and the people are tired of being ruled by GERB.

Mihail Mikov, MP from BSP

Your mission is to revive parliamentary democracy in this country.

President Rumen Radev addresses the new parliament

PCR tests should be much cheaper, but this is what you get when healthcare becomes a business.

Professor Todor Kantardzhiev

We have ordered enough vaccines for two Bulgarias.

No idea what the prime minister meant. Development of a Bulgarian Covid-19 vaccine is in its early stages.

Dr Angel Kunchev, Chief Health Inspector

A large facility indeed, but it will make veterinary vaccines... that have nothing to do with Covid-19.

Academic Bogdan Petrunov, immunologist

In Bulgaria freedom of speech is so free (sic) that it is incomparable to that in other countries.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov

The peak of the pandmeic will come just ahead of the 4 April general election.

Chief State Health Inspector Angel Kunchev

The prime minister is a man who puts down all fires in Bulgaria.

Nasko Sirakov, owner of Levski football club, on his request for state funding of new construction on the club's stadium

The world looks different when one's onboard Boyko Borisov's 4WD.

In the implementation of the Covid-19 measures you will see the total power of the state.

Health Minister Kostadin Angelov

They marked the 40th anniversary of dictator Tito's death. It's as if Berlin were to mark the anniversary of Hitler's expiry.

Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva in an attempt to explain Bulgaria's suspension of North Macedonia's bid to join the EU

I am so powerful I can stand in for a snow plough.

Heavyweight boxer Kubrat Pulev before his 12 December match with Anthony Joshua

In short, I am a patriotic Christian Socialist.

Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev

The (North) Macedonians' megalomania is a proof of their Bulgarian origin.

Professor of history Andrey Pantev 

"If they dislike Boyko Borisov's highways and underground, let them walk."

GERB Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva

"Many journalists believe that they should be untouchable."

Betina Zhoteva, chairwoman of the Electronic Media Council

"GERB consists of women only. Even the few men in the party are women."

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on equality