Slovenia

Area: 20,273 sq km (7,827 sq mi)

Population (2006 est.): 2,006,000

Capital: Ljubljana

Chief of state: President Janez Drnovsek

Head of government: Prime Minister Janez Jansa

Slovenia 's effort to join the European currency union and adopt the euro succeeded in May 2006 when the European Commission agreed that the country had met the requirements. On Jan. 1, 2007, Slovenia would become the first of the 10 countries that joined the European Union in 2004 to adopt the euro and the 13th overall. The government continued preparing to hold the presidency of the EU in the first half of 2008. Slovenia would be the first of the 2004 group of new member countries to hold the rotating presidency.

Prime Minister Janez Jansa , leader of a four-party coalition centre-right government, continued a series of economic and tax reforms that began to have a positive effect by the end of 2006. The country's unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level since independence in 1991. On October 22 Slovenia held quadrennial local elections in all 210 urban and rural districts in the country; 58% of the electorate participated. The results were similar to those of parliamentary elections in 2004, with the centre-right parties that made up the national government gaining mayors and council members at the expense of the centre-left.

In May, Jansa visited Russia , where talks focused on economic cooperation and especially Russian gas supplies to Slovenia . In early July, Jansa visited the United States , where talks with Pres. George W. Bush focused on Slovenia 's role in NATO's peacekeeping efforts. In November the prime minister traveled to several Middle Eastern countries to promote economic ties. His itinerary included a brief stop in Iraq , where Slovenia led a training program for Iraqi police.

Archbishop Franc Rode , leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia from 1997 to 2004, was elevated to cardinal on March 24, the first in the country's history (although the third of Slovenian ancestry). On April 7 three new dioceses were established in Slovenia by the Vatican , with their seats in the cities of Novo Mesto , Celje , and Murska Sobota . Slovenia 's second city, Maribor , was raised to the status of archbishopric, and its bishop, Franc Kramberger , was elevated to archbishop.

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