FACT-CHECKING BOYKO BORISOV

Usually made in his inimitable style, a combination of uncouth nativism and broadspeak, they can easily fill up books. Here is a selection of Borisov's most recent public statements, rendered verbatim:

"In Russia, they tighten the anti-covid measures; in the UK too; new variants are arriving, and we do not have a vaccination plan. The government sees that other countries have plans and use EU money, but it is focused on spite, fury and law violations instead." The fact is that under Borisov's GERB Bulgaria's anti-covid measures were at least lenient. Vaccination levels were the lowest in Europe not just because GERB's handling of the rollout was at best erratic but because the government failed to go ahead with a coherent information campaign to explain to the Bulgarians why they should vaccinate.

"We left a recovery plan to the caretaker government. Because of malice and spite they froze it, and while our neighbours already use billions of free euros, Bulgaria is yet to submit its plan. Europe gives billions of free euros and the government goes and tells the doctors there is no money. There is no money because you are incompetent to prepare the recovery plan. Our plan, be it good or bad, would have provided money. Today we would have wallowed in cash," says Boyko Borisov. The fact is that while GERB did draft a recovery plan they kept it in the dark until the very last minute. The caretaker government inspected it and found serious inconsistencies necessitating an almost complete redraft.

"They went in to steal where it is easiest: in customs and in inland revenue. Smugglers now reign free," Boyko Borisov commented. What in fact has happened is the caretaker government collected millions of leva in unpaid taxes from large companies Boyko Borisov's associates preferred not to touch. Even some of the companies providing vehicle disinfection services that had been deployed by the government at Bulgaria's borders were found breaking tax regulations.

Borisov now laments: "I am the only Bulgarian who has sat twice by the White House fireplace, with a Democrat and a Republican president. From Berlin to the Kremlin! From London to Paris! In one day I have been welcomed by the president and the prime minister of France in the morning, and by the chancellor and the president of Germany in the afternoon. How is this possible, do you know?

"You will never again see a German chancellor, a British prime minister and a French president walking together with a Bulgarian prime minister in Sofia," Boyko Borisov concludes.