Boyko Borisov at an EU summit in Brussels - Credit: POOL/AFP via Getty Images There are few European leaders more colourful and controversial than Bulgaria's Boyko Borisov. Now, demographic forces unleashed by the pandemic could topple him and offer a new start for the EU's poorest nation The beginning of the end for Bulgaria’s bruising former bodyguard turned prime minister Boyko Borisov came last summer, when a photo surfaced showing him in bed with a handgun on his side table and bundles of 500 euro notes stuffed in a half-open drawer. Despite Borisov’s claims that it was doctored, this image perfectly encapsulated the thuggish corruption with which many Bulgarians have come to associate his government.