Temenuzhka Petrova Petkova

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 18.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Russia

• The road map. On 3 June 2017 the energy ministry's press office announced that Petkova and Gazprom chief Alexey Miller had signed a road map for developing Bulgaria's gas transmission infrastructure. In June 2021 caretaker minister Andrey Zhivkov said the document had not been found in the ministry, in BEH or in Bulgartransgaz. Petkova told Mediapool she did not know where it was but had not taken it home, and that it is a working document with no legal force. — Mediapool, 17.06.2021
• Balkan Stream. A check ordered by Kiril Petkov's government found, according to a statement of 02.08.2022, that the haste around the Balkan Stream pipeline led to interference by Petkova in the work of Bulgartransgaz, "so that it would not appeal actions of candidates in public procurements" (our translation). Petkova, of GERB (a political opponent of that cabinet), said at a briefing that nothing had been done against Bulgaria's interests, called the road map a "memo of a meeting" (our translation), and declared the findings of environmental-law violations a lie. The findings were passed to DANS, the Interior Ministry and the Environment Ministry. — Mediapool, 02.08.2022
• Belene. In December 2016 Petkova, as energy minister, told parliamentary control that on 8 December NEK had transferred EUR 601 million (BGN 1.2 billion) to Atomstroyexport under the arbitration award on the Belene nuclear plant. Rosatom confirmed it had received the money. — Mediapool, 09.12.2016

Corruption and scandals

• Varbakova. Mediapool, 23.02.2018: Petkova, then energy minister, announced her resignation after CEZ approved the sale of its Bulgarian assets to Inerkom of Ginka Varbakova. "Petkova admitted she has known Varbakova's family for 20 years, although she is not their godparent, as rumours have it" (our translation). PM Boyko Borisov announced from Brussels that he accepted the resignation. — Mediapool, 23.02.2018
• The friendship. RFE/RL, 10.02.2022: among the only links of Inerkom that became clear in 2018 was "Varbakova's friendship with the then energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova (GERB)" (our translation). Varbakova described it as "a chance meeting and a sincere friendship" (our translation) and denied that the minister had a conflict of interest; Petkova resigned, but PM Boyko Borisov did not accept the resignation. — RFE/RL Bulgarian Service, 10.02.2022
• Her son. Bivol, 24.02.2018, writes that Hristian Stankov, born in 1992, manages consortia that won public contracts of nearly BGN 4 million and is "on very close terms with the son of the minister-in-resignation Temenuzhka Petkova" (our translation); according to the outlet, "these relations are of course no guarantee of success in business, but evidently they help" (our translation). Of Petkova's son, Bivol writes that he has a consulting firm but there is no data that he profited from state contracts through it. — Bivol, 24.02.2018
• ADFI. 24 Chasa, 11.02.2025: finance minister Petkova says of the appointment of Lyudmila Petkova as head of the State Financial Inspection Agency: "The choice of Lyudmila Petkova to be appointed head of the State Financial Inspection Agency is mine and I bear full responsibility" (our translation). The article's headline is "I personally appointed Lyudmila Petkova, I bear responsibility that she is not a cudgel" (our translation). — 24 Chasa, 11.02.2025