On 16 November 2005, in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe commemorates the 50th anniversary of the adoption, by its Committee of Ministers, of the blue flag with a circle of 12 gold stars, also adopted in June 1985 at the Milan European Council by the 10 Member States of the European Community. On this occasion, addresses are given by René van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, and Terry Davies, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

On 21 and 22 September 2001, the informal Council of Finance Ministers (Ecofin) in Liège discusses the economic situation in Europe, inflation differentials in the euro zone, the state of preparations for the introduction of the euro, the international role of the euro and the fiscal package. At the end of the meeting, the participants present the future euro banknotes and coins to the press. From left to right: Luc Frieden, Luxembourg Budget Minister, Gordon Brown, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Laurent Fabius, French Finance Minister, Wim Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Didier Reynders, Belgian Finance Minister, and Guy Quaden, Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (BNB).