Europe in Brussels part 22: Slovenia

An estimated 360 Slovenes work within European Institutions and according to federal government statistics, there are 1,130 people from Slovenia officially registered to live in Belgium.

This year will be the 26th year of Slovenian independence from Yugoslavia. However, despite the country’s long history of bouncing between different empires, Slovenian national Urska Grahek said Slovenes have always had a strong national identity.

“We have a long history although we were part of different empires, different federations, we always kept a rather strong national identity thanks to our language, our literature, thanks to great, great men and women in our history," she says.

Grahek moved to Brussels in 2004 for her work with the European Parliament and then the European Commission. She says that Statehood Day is the largest annual gathering of Slovenes in Belgium.

"We meet every year for the Slovenian national day. This is practically the main meeting occasion to keep contacts with other Slovenes,” she says.

Grahek said that during their celebration in Brussels "we are served traditional Slovenian food, one of it is potica, which was recently mentioned by the pope when he met Trump and First Lady Melania who is Slovenian. Slovenes picked up on this news and were very proud.”

The dish has become so popular that officials want to make it a protected part of Slovene culture through the European Union, similar to Champagne in France.

Grahek says it’s not just food that makes her home country special, but the landscape. “I think that one of the characteristics of Slovenes is that we love nature,” she says. “We always do lots of sports. Ski is our national sport and when I was a toddler they had already put me on skis.

“The first thing I search here in Brussels is often the parks but I also like the sea. I think Brussels is very well situated.”