site.btaCabinet Adopts Report on Implementation of Plan for Preparing Bulgarian EU Presidency in 2018

Cabinet Adopts Report on Implementation of Plan for Preparing Bulgarian EU Presidency in 2018

Sofia, December 2 (BTA) - The Council of Ministers Wednesday adopted a three-month report on the implementation of the Plan for the Preparation of the Bulgarian EU Presidency in the second half of 2018, the Government Information Service said. The report, which was prepared by Deputy Prime Minister for European Policies, Coordination and Institutional Affairs Meglena Kuneva, reads that a series of key activities within the preparation of the Bulgarian EU Presidency have already been implemented in all fields: administrative capacity; logistics and infrastructure; communication strategy and cultural programme; funding and public procurement procedures; priorities and programme of the Bulgarian EU Presidency.

The summary of the data on the planned sittings and meetings show that in the second half of 2018 there will be around 2,500 events of which Bulgaria will be in charge. Around 80 per cent of these will take place in Brussels, Kuneva told journalists. She noted that the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council included 1,739 events, and the Luxembourg Presidency has 1,720 events planned.

The Bulgarian ministries and the other departments plan to prepare, hold and take part in: 30 sittings, including of the European Council, the ten configurations of the EU Council and six high-level meetings; 215 preparatory bodies of the EU Council; 35 committees, commissions, high-level meetings and forums; over 20 forums of international organizations; around 95 forums, conferences, meetings, courses and lectures on topics related to the Bulgarian EU Presidency. A list is about to be prepared of the events that will be held in Bulgaria, Brussels, Luxembourg and other cities.

A preliminary analysis of the administrative capacity shows that at present 1,600 employees in the public administration are directly or indirectly dealing with EU matters. Functional groups have been set in the Bulgarian EU Presidency team, with nearly 900 of its members having been named. A project is being elaborated for a centralized training programme in the 2016-2018 period. This year saw the launching of pilot trainings of the experts in European matters, as well as the conducting of working visits and internships for the administration's preparation on the Bulgarian Communication Strategy for the EU. Over 260 people will have passed training by this year's end.

The National Palace of Culture (NDK) and the Boyana Residence in Sofia were selected as suitable buildings for the needs of the Bulgarian EU Presidency.

In the field of the communication strategy and cultural programme, the following preparatory activities will be carried out by the end of 2015: elaboration of a concept for the Bulgarian EU Presidency's theme and vision; a sociological survey aimed at establishing how informed the Bulgarian society is about the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council and what its preliminary expectations are; elaboration of a concept for working with the media.

In the field of funding and public procurement procedures, resources have been planned in Bulgaria's central-government budget for 2016.

In the field of priorities and programme of the Bulgarian EU Presidency, preliminary consultations have been held with the United Kingdom (to hold the EU Presidency in the second half of 2017) and Estonia (to hold the EU Presidency in the first half of 2018), as well as meetings with representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament.