1. At the beginning of 2007, it was projected that Bulgaria would adopt the euro in:
(a) 2010
(b) 2011
(c) 2012
2. At the beginning of February, the Defence Ministry announced it would be paying out 12 million euro. Why?
(a) To recruit volunteers after the end of conscription
(b) To Elbit systems for the cancelled helicopter modernisation contract
(c) To pay for the deployment of troops in Afghanistan
3. As at February 2007, how many Bulgarian children were available for adoption by foreigners?
(a) 67
(b) 267
(c) 1067
4. In February, Polya Stancheva, at the time director-general of Bulgarian National Radio, sent an official letter to BNR reporter Natasha Dimitrova because:
(a) Dimitrova had won the Interior Ministry’s Journalist of the Year Award
(b) Dimitrova had scooped colleagues by interviewing the nurses in Libya
(c) Dimitrova had asked Interior Minister Roumen Petkov a question he did not like
5. The number of new vehicles sold in Bulgaria in January was:
(a) 3209
(b) 4209
(c) 8209
6. Volen Siderov, leader of the ultra-nationalist party Ataka, led an invasion of the offices of daily newspaper 24 Chassa in February because the newspaper had reported that:
(a) He was Jewish
(b) His mother was of Roma descent
(c) Ataka received funding from Ahmed Dogan’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms
7. At the Sofia Film Festival in March, a lifetime achievement award was accepted in person by director:
(a) Martin Scorsese
(b) Quentin Tarantino
(c) Wim Wenders
8. On March 16, Parliament approved the appointment as European Affairs Minister of:
(a) Mariana Grancharova
(b) Elitsa Grancharova
(c) Gergana Grancharova
9. Side-effects of Bulgaria’s unusually warm 2006/07 winter season included:
(a) Unusually high sales of suntan lotion
(b) Unusually large sales of beer
(c) Unusually large cinema ticket sales
10. Appointed as the chairperson of the special committee on Bulgaria’s communist-era State Security dossiers was:
(a) Evtim Kostadinov
(b) Petar Kostadinov
(c) Emil Kostadinov
11. Ahead of the MEP elections, the Bulgarian Socialist Party said that pensions should go up in 2007 by:
(a) 10 per cent
(b) 20 per cent
(c) 50 per cent
12. In May, Lokomotiv Sofia football player Kaloyan Karadjov got into trouble for alleged:
(a) Doping
(b) Match-fixing
(c) Racism
13. Who succeeded Roumen Ovcharov as Economy and Energy Minister?
(a) Petar Dimitrov
(b) Nikolai Vassilev
(c) Miglena Tacheva
14. In mid-May, icons of the Virgin Mary from the Rila, Troyan and Bachkovo monasteries were brought together for the first time at Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia. Why?
(a) To honour Bulgarian Orthodox Church head Patriarch Maxim
(b) To celebrate the first millennium of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church
(c) To be displayed during prayers that the Bulgarian medics in Libya be freed
15. Translated into English, the Bulgarian acronym for Boiko Borissov’s party GERB means:
(a) Sword
(b) Coat of arms
(c) Strength
16. One party apart from GERB also won five seats in the May 20 MEP elections. It was:
(a) Ataka
(b) The Bulgarian Socialist Party
(c) The National Movement Simeon II
17. Changes to Bulgaria’s Foreigners Act, approved by the Cabinet on May 23, provide that:
(a) Foreigners entering Bulgaria must be able to prove they have 50 euro a day for living expenses
(b) Foreigners entering Bulgaria must be able to prove that they can speak at least one EU language
(c) Foreigners entering Bulgaria must bring with them written proof of their marital status
18. At a news conference on June 11, visiting US president George Bush told journalists that he addressed his host President Georgi Purvanov as
(a) “Georgi”
(b) “George”
(c) “Mr President”
19. On June 3, Toshka Yaneva became the first woman in Bulgaria to be:
(a) Elected as head of the State Agency for Tourism
(b) Elected as Grand Master of a Masonic Lodge
(c) Elected as head of the Teachers’ Union
20. “The more we work, the less we get paid,” Krastyu Penchev told journalists in June. He was speaking on behalf of:
(a) Municipal bus drivers
(b) Pirogov emergency ward staff
(c) School teachers
21. “I receive this medal in the name of the Republic of Bulgaria that I have served,” said the recipient of Bulgaria’s highest honour, the Stara Planina first class, on June 29. His name is:
(a) Sergei Stanishev
(b) Simeon Saxe-Coburg
(c) Ahmed Dogan
22. In July, Bourgas municipal council said that it would hold a referendum in September on:
(a) A ban on construction less than 100m from the shoreline
(b) The Bourgas-Alexandropoulis pipeline
(c) Pedestrianising the beachfront
23. Elected on July 15 as the new leader of the Union of Democratic Forces was:
(a) Plamen Oresharski
(b) Martin Zaimov
(c) Plamen Yuroukov
24. Official statistics in 2007 said that the number of children employed in Bulgaria was:
(a) 3000
(b) 33 000
(c) 83 000
25. What unusual ‘sporting’ event made its debut in Bulgaria in 2007?
(a) Sprinting while wearing high heels
(b) Dwarf-tossing
(c) Cross-country wife-carrying
26. According to coffee manufacturer Spetema, the amount of coffee consumed by an average Bulgarian each year is:
(a) Just less than five kg
(b) Just less than 10kg
(c) Just less than 20kg
27. McDonald’s said in 2007 that it estimated its share of the Bulgarian fast food market to be:
(a) 10 per cent
(b) 20 per cent
(c) 30 per cent
28. In August, it was announced that Bulgarian supermarket chain Piccadilly was being acquired by a company from:
(a) Serbia
(b) Romania
(c) Turkey
29. According to Colliers International, asking prices for property in Sofia’s Doctors’ Garden area increased in the first half of 2007 by:
(a) Nine per cent
(b) 19 per cent
(c) 29 per cent
30. The salary increase demanded by teachers in the September-October strike was:
(a) 20 per cent
(b) 50 per cent
(c) 100 per cent
31. Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said in September that the official approval process for a company applying to be allowed to hire a foreign employee was:
(a) A month
(b) Three months
(c) Six months
32. It had been standing idle since 1998, but in September Plovdiv brought back into use the city’s:
(a) Communist-era party headquarters
(b) Communist-era children’s railway
(c) Communist-era Lada assembly plant
33. Boiko Borissov won the mayoral elections in Sofia. Who came second?
(a) Brigo Asparouhov
(b) Slavi Binev
(c) Martin Zaimov
Answers:
1 a, 2 b, 3 b, 4 c, 5 a, 6 c, 7 c, 8 c, 9 b, 10 a, 11 a, 12 c, 13 a, 14 c, 15 b, 16 b, 17 a, 18 b, 19 b, 20 b,
21 b, 22 b, 23 c, 24 c, 25 a, 26 a, 27 b, 28 a, 29 b, 30 c, 31 b, 32 b, 33 c.
