Slovenia, Slovakia, let’s call the whole thing off

THE tiny Alpine republic of Slovenia, often ruffled by being confused with Slovakia, took another hit when its president, Milan Kucan, was welcomed to Romania with the wrong national anthem, officials said yesterday.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Jul 2002, 02:00 BST

Mr Kucan stepped off his plane at the start of a state visit in Bucharest on Monday to be greeted by the correct Slovenian flags but the wrong music, the president’s spokeswoman said, confirming Slovenian newspaper reports.

"Unfortunately, they really played the Slovak anthem," the spokeswoman said. Mr Kucan ignored the slip, newspapers said.

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Confusing Slovenia and Slovakia at sporting events and political meetings has been a frequent mistake in the last decade since Slovenia declared independence from the former Yugoslavia and Slovakia split with the Czech Republic.

The US president, George Bush, then governor of Texas, once famously welcomed the Slovenian prime minister, Janez Drnovsek, by referring to him as the leader of Slovakia.

Slovenia, with two million people, is smaller and farther south than Slovakia, a Central European state of 5.4 million people.

Both states entertain hopes of being accepted into the European Union in the first wave of EU enlargement in 2004.

Related topics:SlovakiaEuropean Union