Atanas Petrov Atanasov

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 23.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Corruption and scandals

• A video from his office and claims of substance use. After a video the minister filmed himself in his office and posted on social media, Marica writes that GERB deputy chair Daniel Mitov accused him on bTV of having „се е надишал, напушил или въобще почерпил с някакви вещества“ (inhaled, smoked or in any case treated himself with some substances; our translation), and that this was obvious to anyone watching the clip. According to Webcafe the video provoked mixed reactions and calls for his resignation. In a follow-up video Atanasov says: „Не съм искал да обидя никого.“ (I did not mean to offend anyone; our translation) — Marica, 09.04.2022, Webcafe, 10.04.2022
• The guild demands his resignation in an open letter. The Society of Art and Culture Figures in Bulgaria, which according to Trud includes seven creative unions and many associations, demands in an open letter to Prime Minister Kiril Petkov that the minister be removed. Among the grounds are the two-month delay of the National Culture Fund programmes and what the letter calls the illegitimate dismissal of members of its management board, as well as „Карикатурното поведение на министър Атанасов от миналата седмица разруши окончателно имиджа на Министерство на културата“ (Minister Atanasov's caricature-like behaviour last week destroyed the image of the Ministry of Culture for good; our translation). — Trud, 13.04.2022
• Demand for the collective resignation of the Culture Fund board. Club Z writes that the minister calls on the board of the National Culture Fund to resign collectively, and half of its members, including the Ministry of Culture's representative, flatly refuse. The executive director Mirena Staneva and five board members resign. The occasion is the exhibition The Other Bulgarian Women, whose project receives 10,000 leva from the fund. — Club Z, 14.02.2022
• A debt for an official apartment, per a local outlet. Taran.News writes, citing documents of the Ministry of Culture, that the former minister owes 1,411.58 leva – 572.40 leva unpaid rent, 715.52 leva for electricity and 123.66 leva for water in an official apartment. The outlet claims he did not pay after a notarial demand of 02.11.2022 and that the Haskovo District Court ordered him to repay; asked by the outlet, the Haskovo Regional Court replied that it has no case with the former minister as defendant, from which the outlet concludes that the district court's ruling has entered into force. Atanasov says he did not use the apartment in Sofia; according to the outlet this is untrue, because his names, personal ID number and phone are written in the application for an official dwelling. — Taran.News, 10.06.2024