Bulgarian officials return bonuses worth $400,000

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov last month promised to sack any senior official who took bonuses during the country's economic downturn unless they returned them or donated them to charity.

His order applied to ministers, their deputies, heads of political cabinets and regional governors.

Only one official at the environment ministry declined to return his bonus and was dismissed.

The bonuses had caused real anger in a country which has the lowest gross domestic product per capita of any European Union member state and where the average salary is just 700 levs ($470) per month.

On Thursday, Borisov said he was glad his threat had been taken seriously. But he appeared to criticise his original decision, saying he had pandered to populist sentiment.

"Given the small salaries they receive and the huge responsibility they have – this is populism," he told the Nova TV station when talking about the officials' bonuses.

"Populism is widespread in Bulgaria. We, as a post-Communist country, still think as Communists. In this case, I do as well."

He said his cabinet planned to raise the salaries of ministers in the next government, in an apparent attempt to compensate for the loss of the bonuses, and it would set clear rules for public servants' pay.

"The (ruling) GERB party came to power to be morally clean…In the timeline that I have set, all extra funds have been returned," he said.

A recent poll showed that Borisov's centre-right GERB party saw its support drop by two percent because of public anger over the bonus row.