THE EUROPEAN FLAG - HISTORY AND MEANING


I have been asked what the history and meaning of the European blue flag is.  Here is my short description:
The European flag was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955.  The proposal was made by a French-German designer, Arsène Heitz, from Strasbourg.  He lived in the years 1908-89.  He made it in close cooperation with the Belgian journalist and professor, Paul Lévy,  ( 1910-2002 ), who was a holocaust survivor and director of information in the Council of Europe for many years. 
The flag is meant to symbol Europe’s identity and unity, also in a wider sense of the words. 
The blue colour refers to the blue sky over Europe. And the 12 golden stars in a circle symbolise unity, solidarity and harmony between the peoples of Europe. 
The number of stars, 12, has nothing to do with the number of member states. The Council of Europe had in 1955 15 member states. Today it has 47.  And EU has today 27 member states.  The flag remains the same also when new members join in the future.
One small, but important detail:  the European flag has to be presented in such a way that the 12 five-pointed stars each “stand on two feet”.   Now and then you see the flag presented in a way, where the stars are standing on their head.  This is wrong.

The Council of Europe encouraged the new EU institutions to use the same flag.  The European Parliament decided to do so in 1983. And all member states agreed in 1985, that the flag should in the future also be the flag for the European Union.
Everybody in the EU has the right to use the European flag. Ministries, city halls and other public buildings in most EU countries use it on their building all year around. Others do it on Europe Day, May 9.   The embassies of all EU member states use it together with their national flag.
And private people may also use the European flag, when they want to. They do not need any permission.  If they want to use the flag of another country, they normally have to ask for permission, normally from the police.

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