Slovenia Is First Stop On Bush's Final Tour

KRANJ, Slovenia, June 9 -- President Bush opened a farewell tour of Europe on Monday night in this tiny, picturesque nation, which is basking in its status as the current head of the European Union and the most successful state to emerge from the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Home to just 2 million people, the alpine country is hosting this week's annual summit between the United States and the 27-nation European Union. The two sides will debate such issues as the Iranian nuclear program and a ban on U.S. poultry imports, though officials expect few firm agreements. Slovenia and some of its neighbors are urging the United States to ease visa restrictions on former Communist bloc nations.

Bush has been to Slovenia once before, in 2001, when he made his much-reported remark about looking then Russian President Vladimir Putin in the eye, talking with him, and getting "a sense of his soul." That meeting took place at Brdo Castle, the palace that Bush will visit Tuesday.

Two years before that, tens of thousands of Slovenians stood in a downpour to greet then-President Bill Clinton. All of this international attention for a nation the size of New Jersey is due in no small part to Slovenia's rise as a bastion of stability in the otherwise troubled Balkans. Covered in thick forests stretching from the Alps to the Adriatic, Slovenia broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991 after a 10-day fight in which about 70 people died, and now ranks above its Central European neighbors in per capita income and most other measures.

"We are not only the success story of the former Yugoslavia, but also of all of Central Europe," said Samuel Zbogar, the Slovenian ambassador in Washington, who returned here for Bush's visit. "It's gone very smoothly for us."

The country is more homogeneous than its Balkan neighbors to the south, with Slovenians, who are historically Christian, accounting for more than 80 percent of the population. It has clung to a distinct culture and language through occupation and upheaval. Unlike its Balkan neighbors, which spent centuries under Ottoman rule, Slovenia was part of the Habsburg empire. It has a generally pro-Western outlook.

The country was admitted in 2004 to both the E.U. and the NATO alliance, and is currently governed by a coalition led by Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who will meet with Bush along with President Danilo Turk. Slovenia holds the rotating six-month presidency of the E.U., which will pass to France on July 1.

The country's can-do image was undermined last week, however, with its handling of a coolant spill at the country's only nuclear plant, in Krsko. The incident was initially reported as a test exercise by Slovenia -- a mix-up that officials in Ljubljana, the capital, blamed on a paperwork error.

Although the E.U. initially issued an alert, nuclear regulatory officials said there was no radiation leak or safety threat. A faulty water valve was replaced, and the plant is due to resume operation this week.

Bush will be here only briefly -- less than 24 hours -- before he continues on to Berlin, Rome, Paris and London as part of his last scheduled presidential trip to Europe.