"Security, stability, solidarity. These are the three ideas with which Bulgaria wants to leave a mark on European politics in the first half of the year when it chairs the EU."

In the complex situation, this pro-European member on the south-eastern fringe of the bloc, which has not yet joined two main projects - the euro and Schengen zones, will try to do more than is expected from routine presidencies, the newspaper says.

In the EU, 2018 will be a year of decisions, the newspaper says in the commentary headlined The Year of Decisions. It adds that one of Bulgaria's biggest challenges will be coming up with a compromise on the asylum system.

In line with French President Emmanuel Macron's motto about "a Europe which protects", the EU will continue to strive for better control of its external border. But fortifying "the fortress of Europe" will not suffice to better manage migrations.

It would take more effective development programmes in Africa, more solidarity, and giving more attention to all crisis areas on the other side of the Mediterranean.

Macron's idea of the EU's overhaul cannot yet bring a breakthrough, although he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will present the first proposals for monetary union reform in March.

Nevertheless, Bulgarian intellectual Ivan Krastev believes Macron has presented the desire for change in the EU as a positive topic, and as such it is becoming the most convincing response to populists.