Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who has ruled Bulgaria almost uninterruptedly since 2009, may appear sprightly when he holds the hands of Angela Merkel or endearing when he tries to speak French with Emanuel Macron, but under his GERB-manship Bulgaria has collapsed to the rock bottom of almost every possible area that can be measured statistically.
Yoncheva, who is an outspoken critic of Borisov's GERB and his ultranationalist coalition partners, sued when Borisov said that the state had spent "millions" on funding Yoncheva's TV international programmes.
Borisov made the remarks while speaking in Burgas, a GERB stronghold, and then repeated them numerous times in various media appearances. Yoncheva responded that if the court found Borisov was a liar he should step out of politics.
When I was at a more tender age, a drink or a girl in leotard wouldn't scare me at all.
Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev on complains that the programme of an EU youth forum included a night out with alcohol and "half-naked" dancers
Boyko Borisov's only 'fault' is that he tolerates freedom of speech. His benevolence enables some people to cross boundaries and attack him.
Former Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov
The easiest way to turn the European idea into a parody is to let it be associated with people who constantly claim European values without any actual knowledge of them.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev
I learnt the most from Todor Zhivkov and Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They are like two universities to me.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
It is not true that the MPs are lazybones.
One of the things that has clearly distinguished Bulgaria's Prime Minister of about 10 years, Boyko Borisov, from his obvious authoritarian ilk – Hungary's Orban and Poland's Kaczynski – is the fact that sometimes, usually at the right time (in the presence of Western leaders), he asserts that he is pro-Western.
We cannot have infrastructure like in Vienna if our taxes are like in Pernik.
Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov
Conscripting the youth in the military will restore their manly appearance.
Defence Minister Krasimir Karakachanov
The Russian patriarch is a second-class KGB officer who made billions on untaxed cigarettes.
Deputy Prime Minister Valeri Simeonov
Under GERB, Bulgaria's public has become accustomed to scandals of various magnitude that come and go about every second day, sometimes several times a day. Outrageous statements often generated by fake news make headlines for a few hours and electrify the public's attention only to be overshadowed by the next scandal that may be even more outrageous than the previous one.
The government in Sofia takes this very seriously. On 1 January 2018 Bulgaria will become the rotating president of the EU for the first time since it was accepted as a member in 2007. Boyko Borisov appointed a special minister for the EU presidency, creating a government post foredoomed to be rather short-lived. Millions of leva were spent on a variety of infrastructure projects, Borisov's favourite, ranging from renovations of the Communist-era NDK, where most of the EU meetings and events will be held, to making Sofia's central roads narrower in order to make way for bicycle paths.
We didn't introduce the air pollution early warning system because if we did you would ask about the measures, and they are yet to be implemented.
Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova
Only Bulgarians who are good for nothing don't emigrate.
Former Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov
When there is construction works, there is peace.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
What has been in the offing ever since Boyko Borisov's GERB's ascend to power in 2009 is now beginning to assume sinister proportions more befitting the years just after the Second World War, when the Bulgarian Communist Party consolidated its hold to power, than an EU member state in 2017.
According to Prof (Oxon) Evgeniy Daynov, a political scientist, the central issue no longer is the replay of the means and methods of "Mature Socialism," with its stagnated economy and police state. It is when GERB will turn their almost 10-year rule into an open, full-fledged dictatorship.
Bulgaria is supposed to start its presidency on 1 January 2018.
Borisov's statement should be taken seriously by the EU and its law enforcement agencies because it comes at a time when Bulgaria was slammed once again by a damning EU report for its failure to fight corruption and reform its judiciary.
The opposition is very cunning, they diminish the successes of the government.
Lilyana Pavlova, Minister for Bulgaria's EU Presidency
The Balkans may replace the UK which is now exiting. Incredible nature. From the Mediterranean all the way to the Black Sea: mountains, rivers, natural wealth, hard-working nations ... beautiful people.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
Borisov will rule us until he gets fed up with us.
This is not the Great Wall of China.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov after a sectionof the fence collapsed owing to some rain, in October
Bulgarian politics is like American wrestling. The battle between the GERB and the BSP is all fake.
Georgi Parvanov, president of Bulgaria in 2002-2012
There are corrupt activities that are not a crime.
Manuil Manev, an MP for GERB
At the peak of this summer's season a group of restaurant-goers in Sozopol, at the Black Sea coast, resorted to the currently fashionable Small Claims Court, known also as Facebook. They told the hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians whose chief source of information is Mark Zuckerberg's invention that they had booked a table at a restaurant but not all of them showed up for dinner. Four chairs were left empty.
I don't eat dry sausages, I have high blood pressure.
I always comply with people who want to protect dolphins, clams and corals.
Only people who don't want to work are unemployed.
You know that when we promise something, the next day it becomes a reality.
Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria
Each outrage committed by the top GERB functionaries is almost immediately followed by something totally unexpected – and even more outrageous than before – in order to distract the attention of the general public from the really important issues such as the failed judiciary reforms, the unwillingness or the inability of the police to solve even street crimes (whose number increases by the day) and the plummeting standards of democracy in the EU's poorest and most corrupt member state.
Why do our children have to study Darwin's theory, in which I do not believe, and not creationism?
Yordan Tsonev, an MP for the DPS
Boyko Borisov is the bearer of peace in Europe.
Georgi Gergov, a Plovdiv businessman and a member of the BSP
I am known for my humility.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
If you carry a ladder, you can climb over even the Great Wall of China.
Interior Minister Valentin Radev downplays information about migrants surmount the fence on the Turkish border
We have lived to see the day when Tsvetan Tsvetanov accuses Sweden of corruption.
President Rumen Radev on the GERB's top functionary's accusation that Bulgaria buying Gripen fighters is bad
We are on first-name terms since when we both were mayors.
Political scientist Professor (Oxon) Evgeniy Daynov put it succinctly: "This is a government of thugs, of brokers of organised crime… of pronounced Kremlin agents, of Nazis and of clerks with gangster-Nazi inclinations."
Probably a lot of people do it.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on the Nazi salute
The public debate in this country has reached a stage where people trade accusations: your Communism is worse than my Nazism.
Lea Cohen, former ambassador and now author
24 May is a holiday in Russia as we celebrate the Slavonic alphabet which came to us from the Macedonian land.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Bulgarian alphabet