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Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Jansa
Photo: Borut Zivulovic / REUTERS
In several US states, the counting continues, so a winner of the presidential election has not yet been determined.
But Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Jansa doesn't mind: He has already congratulated Donald Trump on his re-election.
"It's pretty clear that the American people have elected Donald Trump and (Vice-President) Mike Pence for another four years," wrote the right-wing politician on Twitter.
Slovenia has been part of the European Union (EU) since 2004.
Jansa stuck to Trump's tone of voice in his choice of words: delays and "factual denials" by the mainstream media would only add to the US president's triumph.
Previously, Trump had declared himself the winner early, although the counting of the election results was not yet complete.
In an unprecedented step, Trump also announced that he wanted the Supreme Court to stop the ongoing counting of votes.
The team of challenger Joe Biden spoke of a scandal, the Democrats in several states were hoping for the postal votes that have not yet been counted.
The EU country Slovenia has two million inhabitants.
Jansa, who has ruled there since March, is a close ally of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is critical of the EU.
Both politicians have always been positive about Trump and his presidency in the past.
Trump's wife Melania is a native of Slovenia.
The transatlantic coordinator of the federal government, Peter Beyer (CDU), immediately criticized Jansa's statement on ARD: "That is completely stupid to congratulate now. (...) That is something that weakens the Europeans."
The FDP European politician Nicola Beer also criticized the early congratulations: In Europe, too, "authoritarian power" is no longer a taboo.
Regardless of the outcome of the US election, Europe must strengthen its own role in the world and appear self-confident, said the FDP politician.
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as / dpa