Berlin, Shawwal 22, 1437, July 27, 2016, SPA -- Following Britain's decision to forgo its six-month European Council presidency in 2017, the council on Tuesday decided to push forward the rotating presidency of member states by half a year, according to dpa. EU countries take turns holding the bloc's presidency for six months at a time. Slovakia currently holds the presidency and Malta is scheduled to follow in the first half of next year. Britain was originally scheduled for the presidency from July to December 2017. That slot will now be taken by Estonia, which was originally scheduled after Britain, and the presidency of the following member states will also be pushed forward by six months, the council said in a statement. The council also added Croatia to the rotating presidency list for the first half of 2020. The office of British Prime Minister Theresa said last week the country was prepared to forgo its six-month European Council presidency in 2017 because officials will be busy negotiating the terms on which the nation will leave the EU. The workload of the rotating presidency has been reduced since 2009, when specific officials were assigned to chair EU summits and handle foreign policy. The presidency's primary role now is to chair ministerial meetings and broker deals between the 28 EU member states and the European Parliament. --SPA 00:01 LOCAL TIME 21:01 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w