Tomorrow, on the 1st January 2008, Slovenia takes over the presidency of the European Union. (The presidency rotates between member states every six months.) So here are ten things you didn't know about Slovenia...
- Slovenia is the only one of the former Yugoslav republics to have joined the EU.
- In 2007, Slovenia became the first former communist country to adopt the euro.
- The country has a population of just over 2 million.
- The logo chosen to mark Slovenia's presidency of the EU (pictured above) resembles an oak leaf; this reflects the solid, persistent, dependable character of Slovenes.
- Slovene is a Slavic language.
- The language uses the Roman alphabet, with the letters q, w, x and y missing.
- Slovene is an SVO language. (Sentences are structured using a subject-verb-object sequence.)
- Slovenia's most famous writer is Ivan Cankar, who lived from 1876 to 1918.
- There are around 100,000 Slovene speakers in the Italian provinces of Trieste and Gorizia.
- Slovenia's neighbours are Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Italy; the country's coastline is just under 30 miles long.