Europe flag

The flag of Europe, also known as the European flag, is a symbol that represents the union of European States, being assumed as such by the European Union and the Council of Europe (which is a political organization independent of the Union). Although both institutions recognize the flag, it is more often associated with the European Union due to the heavy use of the banner it has made since its adoption, including itself in the institutions, acts and official documents. It was designed in 1955 by Arsène Heitz, a painter from Strasbourg, and approved on December 8 of that same year by the Council of Europe, which encouraged other European institutions to adopt the same flag. The European Parliament accepted it in 1983. Finally, in 1985 the insignia was adopted by the European Council as the official emblem of the European Communities whose institutions have used it since 1986.

The flag is made up of a circle of twelve golden stars - this number symbolizes perfection, completeness and unity - on a blue background. As the number of stars has nothing to do with the number of Member States, the flag does not change with the enlargements of the EU. However, after approval of the Treaty of Lisbon, the symbols of the European Union are not legally binding for the member countries, sixteen countries belonging to the EU have declared their loyalty to these symbols in a declaration attached to the document, committing to their use in acts public. The European Parliament also modified its internal regulations in order to use the symbols more frequently.

Despite the Council of Europe being the first institution to adopt the flag, since May 1999 it stopped using it as it had become a "common European symbol", to use another personalized emblem.

History

Search for a Common Symbol

Before the development of political institutions the flags that represented Europe were limited to unification movements. The most popular were the flag of the European Movement (A large green letter "E" on a white background) and that of the Pan-European International Union. With the development of European organizations, in addition to the Council of Europe, came other emblems and flags. None of them were intended to represent a wider Europe – with the exception of the Council – and they ended up being replaced by the current European flag.

The search for a symbol by the Council of Europe began in 1950 when a committee was set up to examine the question of the European flag. There were numerous proposals, but the theme of circles and stars was repeated. Count Richard Nikolaus Graf von Coudenhove-Kalergi proposed the adoption of the Pan-European Union flag, which consisted of a blue background with a central orange circle with a red cross., and which had recently been approved by the European Parliamentary Union. Due to the religious symbolism of the cross, it was rejected by Turkey (which had been a member of the Council of Europe since 1949). Kalergi then suggested adding a crescent to the transverse design to overcome Muslim objections. The flag of the European Movement was also proposed, and another design based on the Olympic rings that would consist of eight silver rings on a blue background. This proposal was rejected because the rings could be related to the links of a chain, with disks or with zeros. A proposal by Carl Weidl Raymon was for a large yellow star on a blue background, but it was rejected due to similarity to the Burnet flag adopted in 1830 by Texas and the flag of the Belgian Congo.

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  Flag proposal with a ring circle.

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  Flag of the European Movement.

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  Original flag of the Pan-European International Union.

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  Current flag of the Pan-European International Union.

First adoption of the European flag

The Council of Europe was the first institution to adopt the European flag.

The Consultative Assembly (a committee created expressly for the occasion, whose main representatives were Rober Bichet, vice-president of the council; Fritz Erler and Karl Wistrand, as well as three other heraldic experts) reduced the number of options to two designs. One was created by Salvador de Madariaga, the founder of the College of Europe, who suggested a constellation of stars on a blue background (positioned according to the capitals of the member states, with a large star for Strasbourg, the seat of the Council). Circulate this flag in different European capitals and obtained different supports. The second option was a variant on the first by the painter Arsène Heitz, who worked in the postal service of the Council of Europe and sent dozens of proposals. The design of this flag it was similar to the one proposed by Madariaga, but instead of a constellation, the stars were arranged in a circle. The Consultative Assembly opted for this version (choosing a number of fifteen stars, one for each member state of the Council of Europe) and recommended its adoption to the Council.

The Committee of Ministers (the main decision-making body of the Council of Europe) agreed with the Assembly that the flag should be a circle of stars, but the number fifteen was a source of trouble. Finally, the number twelve was chosen by Paul Michel Gabriel Lévy who drew the same design that the flag uses today. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe approved this flag on October 25, 1955. It was finally adopted on December 8 of that same year and presented to the public at the Château de la Muette in Paris on December 13, 1955.

Flags of the European Communities

The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was the first international organization that attempted to bring together the European states. It was promoted and encouraged since 1950 by the French Robert Schuman, then French Foreign Minister, and Jean Monnet, a negotiator appointed by the French government and later the first president of the High Authority (governing body) of the ECSC. This was, after the Council of Europe, the second major organization to adopt a flag, which was presented at the 1958 Brussels Expo.

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  CECA flag from 1958 to 1972, with six member states.

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  CECA flag from 1973 to 1980, with nine member states.

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  CECA flag from 1981 to 1985, with ten member states.

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  CECA flag from 1986 to 2002, with twelve member states.

Flag of the European Parliament until 1983.

The flag had two stripes, blue at the top and black at the bottom, with six gold stars (they would be silver after 1973), three on each strip. The color blue referred to steel and black to coal, while the stars symbolized the six member states. The number of stars increased with the addition of new states to the organization, until it was set at twelve in 1986. When the founding treaty of the ECSC expired in 2002, the flag was removed from the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels and replaced by the European flag.

The European Parliament also used its own flag from 1973, but never formally adopted it. This ensign fell into disuse with the adoption of the current flag in 1983 by Parliament. The flag followed the blue and yellow color scheme, although instead of twelve stars it had the initials "EP" and "PE" (the initials of the European Parliament in the six Community languages) surrounded by a laurel wreath.

Adoption by the European Communities and the European Union

European flags waving at the Berlaymont Building, headquarters of the European Commission.

Following the first-class General Exhibition in Brussels in 1958, the flag designed by Arsène Heitz became popular and the Council of Europe pressured other European organizations to adopt the flag as a symbol of unity. The European Parliament took the lead in seeking of a flag to be adopted by the European Communities. Shortly after the first direct elections in 1979, a project was presented on the subject that proposed taking the flag of the Council of Europe as its flag and on April 11, 1983 it was approved by the European Parliament.

Logo of the Council of Europe

During the Fontainebleau summit, the 1984 European Council, made up of the political leaders of the Communities, stressed the importance of promoting a European image and identity to citizens and the world. The following year, the European Council held in Milan approved a proposal from the Committee for the Europe of the Peoples (Comité Adonnino) in favor of adopting the European flag.

After the authorization of the Council of Europe, the communities began to use the banner from 1986, settling for the first time at the headquarters of the European Commission on May 29, 1986. The European Union, which replaced with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 to the European Communities and its functions, also adopted the flag. Since then, the use of the flag has been jointly controlled by the Council of Europe and the European Union until the Council of Europe decided to stop using it from May 2009 as it became a "common European symbol". 34;, to use another personalized anagram; so since then the official use of the flag is exercised by the institutions of the European Union.

The project of the European Constitution

Symbols in the Lisbon Treaty

Usage

European Union

All euro tickets show a European flag in its upper left corner.

The flag symbolizes the European Union as a whole, although all other bodies and agencies of the European Union have their own logos, often inspired by the design and colors of the flag.

As part of the use by the institutions of the European Union, the flag appears on all euro banknotes. The coins, on the other hand, although they do not present the flag as such, do show the circle of twelve stars both on the national and common sides; and the European flag is sometimes used as a badge of the eurozone.

The flag also appears on European Union driver's licenses and license plates.

Protocol

In countries such as Italy the European flag is shown along with the national flag in ceremonies, official acts and public buildings.

It is mandatory that the flag be used in every official speech given by the President of the European Council and is frequently used in official meetings between the leaders of a member state of the European Union and another foreign country (the national flag and the European flag appear together). While normally the national flag takes precedence over the European flag in the national context, in meetings between EU leaders this differs. For example, the code of the Italian flag expressly substitutes the preference of the Italian flag for the European one when representatives of other countries of the Union are received; which means that in a group of three flags, the European one would be in the middle instead of the Italian one.

The flag is flown by the government of the country that holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers), although in 2009 Czech President Václav Klaus, a eurosceptic, refused to fly the banner at the Castle from Prague. In response to this and its climate change denier stance, Greenpeace projected a giant image of the flag onto the castle and onto Charles Bridge and tried to raise the flag on the buildings themselves.

In national usage, protocol generally states that the state flag takes precedence over the European flag, which is normally displayed to its right from the observer's perspective. On occasions when the European Union flag is used in conjunction with the other EU national flags, the latter are placed in alphabetical order (according to their name in the state's primary language) with the European flag at the beginning of them or at the end.

The European Commission recommends placing the European flag in a prominent place on public buildings on March 25 (anniversary of the signing of the treaties of Rome) and May 9 (Europe Day), as well as on any act or celebration of a Europeanist nature or promoted by the European Institutions.

Military and naval use

Gallardete of European Union fisheries inspection ships.

The European flag is used in military operations of the European Union in some cases; however, it is not used as a flag, neither civil, nor institutional, nor of war. A member of the European Parliament presented a proposal in a temporary committee of the European Parliament that the civil flags of the EU nations could be replaced by the European flag, but this proposal was rejected by Parliament in 2004, and therefore the flag europea is not used as a flag.

European Union fisheries inspection teams wear a distinctive pennant that identifies them, in addition to carrying the national flag of the country under whose jurisdiction the vessel is located. This blue and yellow triangular pennant was adopted on May 20, 1978.

Wider use

The European flag was conceived with the intention of representing Europe in its broadest sense. In particular, the flag has become a symbol of Europeanism outside the European Union itself, for example in Georgia, which does not it still belongs to the Union but where the flag has been found on most government buildings since Mikhail Saakashvili came to power, who even used it during his inauguration saying: "the European flag is also the flag of Georgia, as it embodies our civilization, our culture, the essence of our history and perspective, and our vision for the future of Georgia."

It is also used as a pro-democracy emblem in countries such as Belarus, where it has been used in protest marches alongside the former national banned flag and flags of opposition movements. The flag was widely used in 2007 in a "European March" in Minsk, where protesters rallied in support of democracy and EU membership.

The flag is also used on sports equipment and as a representation in sports where a unified team represents Europe, such as tournaments such as the Ryder Cup or the Mosconi Cup.

Design

Description

• Symbolic description: On a background of blue sky, twelve golden stars form a circle, sign of the union of the peoples of Europe. The stars are invariably twelve, symbol of perfection and unity.

• Heraldic description: On azur field, a circle formed by twelve golden stars of five points, whose tips are not touched with each other.

Specifications

• Flag design and proportions: The flag is rectangular in blue whose length is equal to once and a half its width.

• Location of the stars: Twelve equidistant golden stars form an imaginary circle whose center stands at the intersection point of the diagonals of the rectangle. The circle radius equals 1/3 of the width of the flag.

• Design and proportion of stars: Each of the five-point stars is inscribed in an imaginary circle whose radius equals 1/18 of the width of the flag.

• Star orientation: All the stars are in a vertical position, that is, with a point headed up and two on a straight line imaginary, perpendicular to the flagpole. The layout of the stars corresponds to that of the hours in the sphere of a watch, and its number (doce) is invariable.

Colors

The main color of the flag is dark blue (Reflex Blue, a mixture of cyan and magenta), while the gold stars are represented in yellow. Colors are regulated according to the Pantone color system.

Monochrome representation

Two standardized versions of the flag have been established for use when only one color is available, usually in printed documentation. In the case in which the only available color is black, the surface of the rectangle must be delimited with a black border and the stars will be black on the white background. If only blue is available, which must necessarily be Reflex Blue, the same color as the usual flag, this will be used as a colored background and the stars will be reproduced in white.

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  Official flag.

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  Flag in blue monochrome.

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  Flag in black monochrome, with black edge.

Number of stars

The number of stars on the flag is set at twelve, and is not related to the number of EU member states. This is because it was originally the flag of the Council of Europe, and has no relationship with the European Union. With the enlargements there is an increasing number of states that belong to the EU (currently the European Union is made up of 27 countries).

In 1953, the Council of Europe had 15 members and it was proposed that the future flag should have a star for each member and that from then on it would not change depending on the future members. However, the Federal Republic of Germany opposed this since one of the member states, Saarland, was a disputed area and having its own star would imply sovereignty of the region. Finally, the number twelve was approved as a symbol of perfection, completeness and unity:

Common mistakes

One of the most frequent errors when representing the flag of the European Union usually consists of placing the correct number of stars, in the correct location, but oriented incorrectly. The stars must draw a perpendicular to the base with its upper point, and cannot have, under any circumstances, different orientations. It is therefore wrong to represent the stars in such a way that they rotate depending on their position on the circumference.

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  Correct flag.

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  Incorrect flag. It's inverted.

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  Incorrect flag. Stars should lead a tip up.

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  Incorrect flag. The stars are poorly positioned.

Possible religious interpretation

Madonna in Gloria (Carlo Dolci, c. 1670).

Although the flag was presented by the President of the Council of Europe Liam Cosgrave on December 13, 1955 under the slogan that "this flag does not represent countries, states or races" and that neither the stars nor the blue background are properly religious symbols, there are people who defend the presence of a Catholic symbolism in it.

This is because the designer himself, Arsène Heitz, declared in 2004 in Lourdes Magazine that he was inspired by reading a passage from the Book of Revelation with the text «And he appeared in heaven a great sign: a Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head" (Rev 12:1).

This symbology of a duodecastelated crown usually appears in some representations of Catholic art, which, together with the fact that the flag was approved on December 8, the day of the Immaculate Conception (although it was presented to the press three days later) and that the Council of Europe later inaugurated a stained glass window for Strasbourg Cathedral in which the twelve stars of the European emblem appear; has led some to believe in the presence of Christian symbolism in the European emblem, despite the fact that Paul Lévy himself, who had helped design the flag and was press director for the Council of Europe, claimed that there was no religious intention in choosing the circle of twelve stars.

Derivative Designs

Since 2009, the Council of Europe has used its own emblem based on the European flag.

The design of the European flag has been widely used in variations, such as those mentioned above, and also in greater use such as the flag of the Western European Union (WEU), which used the same colors and also the stars but with a number of stars based on the number of members of this body. It also included the initials of the Western European Union in two languages.

The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not as closely related to the WEU flag, but was inspired in part by European involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the state's own aspirations. It uses the same blue and yellow colors and also stars as a direct reference to the elements of the European flag, albeit of a different number and colour.

Similarly, Kosovo uses the colors blue and yellow on its banner, as well as stars in reference to the European flag, symbolizing its European ambitions; that is, membership of the European Union. Kosovo, like Bosnia and Herzegovina, has a strong involvement of the European Union in its affairs as the European Union assumes the role of supervisor after its declaration of independence in 2008.

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  Flag of the Western European Union.

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  Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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  Flag of Kosovo.