Archives for April 20th, 2004

Question: In a recent continent-wide opinion poll carried out by the European Commission, how many respondents named Slovenia as a future EU member state?

A) 26%
B) 48%
C) 72%
D) 83%

—– Answer —–

The answer is Z) 3%. That’s right. Three percent of respondents knew that Slovenia would be entering the EU in May. (source)

If you factor in the fact that some people probably guessed, the actual percentage of Europeans who know that Slovenia is entering the EU is probably around 0.0%. Or maybe even a negative number. It’s something to remember the next time you hear a European reciting the tired slur about Americans being ignoramuses who don’t know anything about geography or politics. Europeans apparently have no clue about who the new members will be, despite an avalanche of news on EU expansion and the fact that the new members are all so geographically close. (Slovenia borders two EU member states.)

For an interesting article about Slovenia’s attempts to distinguish itself, see also: Slovenia’s Identity Crisis.