CoM Adopted First Draft of Priorities for Bulgaria’s EU Presidency

The Council of Ministers adopted on 12 July the first draft of a national programme for the Bulgarian EU Presidency. The programme sets out the priorities of the country for the presidency in the first six months of 2018. Minister Lillyana Pavlova, who is in charge of the Bulgarian EU Presidency, said that Bulgaria has fulfilled the preparation for the rotating presidency in accordance with the plan and is not expected to have problems with taking over the six months slot from Estonia.

As fake news and manipulation of the truth she described the rumours that Bulgaria’s EU Presidency would be withdrawn.

A total of 32 high-level meetings will be held in Sofia, including 12 informal ministerial councils. The total format for meetings in Bulgaria will be 300.

Pavlova specified that Bulgaria's main priorities will be the Western Balkans, security and migration, justice, digitization and convergence of common policies. Once a draft plan has been adopted, it is subject to discussion by the National Assembly and the President. The government ministers will hold their own meetings with business and industry organizations.