European Union leaders on Sunday said they had asked for athletes from Slovenia — currently holding the bloc’s rotating presidency — to be allowed to bear its ring-of-stars flag as well as their own national flag at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony.
Carrying the EU flag alongside their country’s own would “render Slovenian athletes ambassadors for European Unity and the values underpinning our Union, which match those of the Olympic movement,” European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa wrote in a letter to International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. Posting the letter to his Twitter account, Schinas — whose portfolio on the Commission is “promoting the European way of life” — wrote that the flag could stand as a “symbol of peaceful coexistence, tolerance and solidarity”. The Olympic Games are scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8.