Twelve Stars in Europe 2014

Some years ago I heard an interview with the person who was the key player in the design of the present flag I am afraid that his name escapes me at the moment. He said that he had chosen this blue because it was the colour of the Virgin Mary and the twelve stars were also her symbol. This was done deliberately as he wanted to put Europe under her protection and dedicate it to her.

All other considerations apart, now that the present flag is known world wide, in my view — whatever the history — it would be rather unfortunate to change it at this stage.

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European Parliamentary Research Service Blog. This competition was never held. This slideshow requires JavaScript. About Historical Archives The Historical Archives maintain and make available to the public the documents related to the legislative and political activity of the European Parliament from until the 6th parliamentary term The best and most successful political alternative was the work of Christian Democratic politicians who envisioned a united Europe, democratic and anti-Communist, and founded on Catholic social principles.

The new union would rise above the nationalistic claims inherent in the familiar dream of church-state alliances. All these activists owed their worldviews to their First World War experiences. His great allies in the cause of European unification were Robert Schuman and Alcide de Gasperi, who both found their national identities changed by post border shifts, which suddenly made Schuman French and De Gasperi Italian. Their political outlook was profoundly rooted in religious attitudes. All were faithfully Catholic, and Schuman is currently under consideration for beatification and potential sainthood.

A devotee of French philosopher Jacques Maritain, he was deeply influenced by his vision of integrating Christian values into a democratic Europe.

In their European vision, they were pursuing ideas that had been regularly proposed by successive popes from the time of Benedict XV onwards. It was Benedict who had so earnestly denounced the divisions of the Great War. Since the s, popes had spoken in terms of a United States of Europe. Coincidentally or not, the crucial diplomatic agreement that serves as the charter for the modern European Union is the Treaty of Rome.

And that story provides the background to the EU flag. When the Council of Europe designed a new flag, it chose an assemblage that in the context of the time frankly evoked the image of the Virgin Mary, according to the interpretation of the twelfth chapter of Revelation: Aleteia has achieved what no one thought possible: This success implies a second challenge: It has been in wide official use by the EU since the s, but it has never been given official status in any of the EU's treaties.

Its adoption as an official symbol of the EU was planned as part of the proposed European Constitution , which failed to be ratified in Since its adoption by the European Union, it has become broadly associated with the supranational organisation, due to its high profile and heavy usage of the emblem. It has also been used by pro-EU protestors in the colour revolutions of the s, e. The graphical specifications given by the EU in describe the design as: According to graphical specifications published online by the Council of Europe in , the flag is rectangular with 2: Twelve yellow stars are centred in a circle the radius of which is a third of the length of the hoist upon a blue background.

All the stars are upright one point straight up , have five points and are spaced equally according to the hour positions on the face of a clock.

The diameter of each star is equal to one-ninth of the height of the hoist. The colours are regulated in the guide by the EU, [8] and equivalently in the guide by the Council of Europe. The logo of the Council of Europe has the colours: Against the blue sky of the Western world, the stars represent the peoples of Europe in a circle, a symbol of unity.

Their number shall be invariably set at twelve , the symbol of completeness and perfection. The official symbolic description adopted by the EU omits the reference to the " Western world ". The number of stars on the flag is fixed at twelve, representing "perfection and completeness" in the original French: It is not related to the number of member states of the EU although the EU happened to have 12 member states at the time of Maastricht Treaty [14] [15] [16].

The flag can be also associated with the clock [17]. The twelve-star "flag of Europe" was designed in and officially adopted by the Council of Europe in The same flag was adopted by the European Parliament in The European Council adopted it was an "emblem" for the European Communities in Its status in the European Communities was inherited by the European Union upon its formation in The proposal to adopt it as official flag of the European Union failed with the ratification of the European Constitution in , and mention of all emblems suggesting statehood was removed from the Treaty of Lisbon of , although sixteen member states signed a declaration supporting the continued use of the flag.

Prior to development of political institutions, flags representing Europe were limited to unification movements. The most popular were the European Movement 's large green 'E' on a white background , and the "Pan European flag" of the Paneuropean Union The original flag of the Paneuropean Union The original flag of the European Movement.

Flag of the Western Union — The Council of Europe in appointed a committee to study the question of adopting a symbol. Numerous proposals were looked into. Among the unsuccessful proposals was the flag of Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi 's International Paneuropean Union , which he had himself recently adopted for the European Parliamentary Union. Kalergi was very committed to defending the cross as "the great symbol of Europe's moral unity", the red cross in particular being "recognized by the whole world, by Christian and non-Christian nations[,] as a symbol of international charity and of the brotherhood of man", [22] but the proposal was rejected by Turkey a member of the Council of Europe since on grounds of its religious associations [23] in spite of Kalergi's suggestion of adding a crescent alongside the cross to overcome the Muslim objections.

Other proposals included the flag was the European Movement , which had a large green E on a white background , [25] a design was based on the Olympic rings , eight silver rings on a blue background, rejected due to the rings' similarity with "dial", "chain" and "zeros", or a large yellow star on a blue background, rejected due to its similarity with the so-called Burnet flag and the flag of the Belgian Congo.

The Consultative Assembly narrowed their choice to two designs. One was by Salvador de Madariaga , the founder of the College of Europe , who suggested a constellation of stars on a blue background [20] positioned according to capital cities, with a large star for Strasbourg , the seat of the Council. He had circulated his flag round many European capitals and the concept had found favour. On 25 September , the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe recommended that a blue flag with fifteen gold stars be adopted as an emblem for the organisation, the number fifteen reflecting the number of states of the Council of Europe.

Kalergi's Paneuropean Union proposal. Following Expo 58 in Brussels , the flag caught on and the Council of Europe lobbied for other European organisations to adopt the flag as a sign of European unity. Shortly after the first direct elections in a draft resolution was put forward on the issue. The resolution proposed that the Communities' flag should be that of the Council of Europe [3] and it was adopted by the Parliament on 11 April The European Parliament used its own flag from , but never formally adopted it.

It fell out of use with the adoption of the twelve star flag by the Parliament in The flag followed the yellow and blue colour scheme however instead of twelve stars there were the letters EP and PE initials of the European Parliament in the six community languages at the time surrounded by a wreath. The June European Council the Communities' leaders summit in Fontainebleau stressed the importance of promoting a European image and identity to citizens and the world.

This committee submitted a substantial report, including wide-ranging suggestions, from organising a "European lottery" to campaigning for the introduction of local voting rights for foreign nationals throughout Europe.

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But as the adoption of a flag was strongly reminiscent of a national flag representing statehood , was extremely controversial with some member states in particular the United Kingdom , the Council of Europe's "flag of Europe" design was adopted only with the status of a "logo". The Communities began to use the "emblem" as its de facto flag from , with it being raised outside the Berlaymont building the seat of the European Commission for the first time on 29 May The European Union, which was established by the Maastricht Treaty in to replace the European Communities and encompass its functions, has retained de facto use of the "Community logo" of the EC.

In , the "Central and Eastern Eurobarometer " poll included a section intending to "discover the level of public awareness of the European Union" in what were then candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Interviewees were shown "a sticker of the European flag" and asked to identify it.

Responses considered correct were: In , Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed a new flag, dubbed the "barcode", as it displayed the colours of the national flags of the EU member states in vertical stripes.

It was never officially adopted by the EU or any organisation, but it was used as the logo of the Austrian EU Presidency in The official status of the emblem as the flag of the European Union was to be formalised as part of the Constitution of the European Union. However, as the proposed constitution failed ratification, the mention of all state-like emblems, including the flag, were removed from the replacement Treaty of Lisbon of