At an official ceremony in Brussels the old elm tree in the town of Sliven, southern Bulgaria, was pronounced winner in the contest European Tree of the Year. The Bulgarian tree of millennial history is the emblem of the town. It collected 77 526 votes. Ranking second and third are Hungary and Poland with 36 768 and 16 768 votes. The contest covered trees from Ireland, Italy, Slovakia, Wales, France, the Czech Republic and Scotland.
