Bulgaria will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2018 and not in the second one as planned earlier.
The Council of the European Union has published a statement with a new timetable of presidencies, days after the UK announced it was relinquishing its own six-month term that was due between January and June 2018.
"The option of taking over the presidency six months earlier is also an opportunity for Bulgaria to show it is a responsible and reliable partner within the EU," the Bulgarian Government has announced after a regular cabinet meeting.
The new timetable, while removing Britain from the list, adds the EU's newest member-state Croatia, which joined in 2013 and will now preside over EU ministerial meetings between January and June of 2020. It also lists all terms until 2030, while the previous one did so until 2020.