"You are dealing with your important Brussels business, but you forget it is here you come from. It is unacceptable that Mrs Ninova [Korneliya Ninova, a socialist lawmaker and candidate to head the BSP party], with my due respect, goes around in Parliament just like that with a document from the European Parliament showing some EUR 30 B are purportedly stolen from Bulgaria, an unimaginable amount of money, but when I call you no-one knows what this is about."

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has criticized MEPs elected on the ticket of his party, conservative GERB, for their impassive attitude to allegations from opposition socialists who cited European Parliament documents supposedly estimating the amount of money taken out of Bulgaria over the past years to billions of EUR.

"You should work for Bulgaria for a day, for the party that chose you."

"Your salaries are many times higher than mine, but I have never allowed you to invite me even to a coke for EUR 1 in Brussels, it's not like you didn't want it."

Borisov has made his comments at a national work meeting in Sofia of local officials from GERB and MPs representing the party.