(ANSA) - TALLINN - Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas started a set of visits in Eastern Europe preparing for the upcoming Estonian presidency of the EU Council.

''Visiting member states ahead of the presidency is a good way to present to colleagues the priorities of our presidency, but also to hear about the expectations and thoughts of other countries for the coming half-year. We will speak about the key topics for Estonia and the country that hosts the visit,'' Ratas said in remarks released ahead of the trip. Yesterday the prime minister of Estonia met in Bratislava with his Slovakian counterpart, Robert Fico. In the second half of the day Ratas headed to Budapest to meet with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Today Ratas is scheduled to meet in Prague with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. After that he will head to Ljubljana to meet with Slovenia's Prime Minister Miro Cerari.

On Wednesday, Ratas is scheduled to meet in Bucharest with Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindean and President Klaus Iohannis. Ratas will return to Estonia on Wednesday afternoon.

(ANSA).