The Council of Ministers approved the calendar for the events of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2018, which will take place in Bulgaria.

There are 299 events in the updated version, which will take place mainly in Sofia, but also in Varna, Burgas, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Ruse, among others. Bulgaria will host one Summit of the heads of states and governments of the EU Member States and the countries of the Western Balkans.  There will be 12 informal meetings of the EU Council and more than 20 high-level meetings, as well as five meetings of the Parliamentary Dimension.  More than 170 meetings and sessions are scheduled to be held at expert level, and about 85 events are planned to take place under the auspices of the Presidency.

The calendar update was prompted by many proposals for holding additional events, including high-level ones, related to the main priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency, and also by the fact that many of the events had no specific dates set for them.

The approval of the final version of the calendar of the events will make it possible to plan the schedules properly and to provide the necessary resources for their organization.