The ritual whereby outgoing and incoming cabinet ministers in Bulgaria share some – occasionally awkward – moments for the cameras as they hand over offices is a macabre one.

They even exchange gifts, though fortunately tradition dictates that these are not of great monetary value.

I would prefer honesty in all things, especially when it comes to politics. A new minister should arrive at an office that is empty and clean, and a former minister…well, it depends. Some of us may prefer one or two of the dear departed-from-office led through the boulevards in chains while the mob hurls tomatoes, if they can afford them and even though such use of the Wonderful Bulgarian Tomato might be a bit of a waste.

As one government made way for another on July 27, former foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin and former European affairs minister Gergana Passi gave newcomer Roumyana Zheleva a history of Bulgarian diplomacy, although – strangely – cautioning her that she probably would be too busy to read it.

Petar Dimitrov gave his successor as Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov, a scale-model windmill, although he asked Traikov not to rely solely on wind energy. Considering how much useless hot air Dimitrov generated, sound advice, perhaps.

Defence Minister Nikolai Mladenov got an icon of St George, the patron saint of Bulgaria’s military, terminating a dragon with extreme prejudice.

Perhaps Mladenov can take it with to meetings with his finance counterpart if he wants some good fortune in arguing for a bigger budget.

Departing culture minister Stefan Danailov, an actor, gave Manasee’s Chronicles and a cigar kit to his successor, Vezhdi Rashidov, a mighty sculptor and mightier chain smoker.

If former prime minister Sergei Stanishev and his successor Boiko Borissov exchanged gifts, it was not recorded. Considering that Stanishev’s lot have passed on an ever-growing deficit, as new Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov has noted, perhaps it is regarded as the gift that keeps on giving.

Perhaps, given that Stanishev’s official statement of assets a few years back declared that he owned just one-sixteenth of a Mazda, and has lost his official car, Borissov should finish the metro, for those who now may be needing public transport.

I prefer those stories we have heard from the United States, whether true or not; that the departing Clinton White House staff removed the "W"s from all keyboards as Bush’s lot were about to move in, and that some of them super-glued the desk drawers closed.

Certainly, in some countries, departing ministers deserve only to hear those few little words: "you’re under arrest".