In his book entitled The Symbols of the European Union, Carlo Curti Gialdino, Professor of International Law at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and Legal Secretary at the Court of Justice of the European Communities from 1982 to 2000, gives an account of the steps which led to the choice of the European flag.

In his book entitled The Symbols of the European Union, Carlo Curti Gialdino, Professor of International Law at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and Legal Secretary at the Court of Justice of the European Communities from 1982 to 2000, considers the authorship of the European flag.

Cette sélection de dessins de drapeaux reflète le désir, exprimé par de nombreux mouvements pro-européens dès la fin de la première guerre mondiale, de doter le continent d'une organisation politique.

The establishment of the Council of Europe in 1949 led to proposals from several individuals for a European flag, following the example of Camille Manné in August of the same year.

En novembre 1949, ce document du directeur de l’Information et de la Presse du Conseil de l’Europe, Paul M.G. Lévy, adressé à son secrétaire général traite de la nécessité d’un emblème pour l’organisation ainsi que du calendrier prévu pour son adoption.

In this memorandum, dated July 1950, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, President of the Paneuropean Movement and Secretary-General of the European Parliamentary Union, proposes the adoption of his movement’s flag as the flag of the Council of Europe.

In 1950, the President of the Paneuropean Movement, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, proposes the adoption of his Movement’s flag, blue with a red cross on a gold disc, used since 1923, as the flag of the Council of Europe.

In an article published in 1950 in the French quarterly publication Saisons d’Alsace, the Director of the Information and Press Service of the Council of Europe, Paul M. G. Lévy, and the assistant curator of the Museums of the City of Strasbourg, Paul Martin, submit their proposal for a new emblem for the Council of Europe: a white flag with a green cross, with the coat of arms of the City of Strasbourg in the centre.

In this memorandum, dated 16 July 1951, the Secretariat General of the Council of Europe outlines the various proposals for emblems for the organisation on which the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges is required to make a choice and to draw up a report to be submitted to the Consultative Assembly.

On 1 December 1951, Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish statesman and founder of the College of Europe in Bruges, proposes an azure European flag with a constellation of stars representing the various European capitals. The City of Strasbourg, seat of the Council of Europe, is represented by a larger star.

In 1951, 12 proposals for flags are submitted by the Secretariat General of the Council of Europe to the representatives of the Consultative Assembly so that an emblem may be selected for the organisation.

In this letter dated December 1951, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Filippo Caracciolo, seeks the opinion of the Representatives to the Consultative Assembly on the 12 flags proposed as the symbol of the European organisation.

Several dozen proposals for flags were submitted to the Secretary-General and the Director of Information of the Council of Europe by Arsène Heitz, an employee in the Council’s postal service and designer of the blue flag with 12 gold stars adopted in 1955 by the organisation’s Committee of Ministers. In this letter dated January 1952, he proposes a flag based on the standard of Charlemagne and the flags of the Scandinavian countries.

In this letter dated 15 February 1952, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe notifies the results of the enquiry carried out among the Representatives to the Consultative Assembly into the 12 flags proposed as the symbol of the European organisation.

In the early 1950s, several dozen proposals for flags were submitted to the Council of Europe’s Secretary-General and to the Director of Information by Arsène Heitz, an employee in the Council’s Mail Service and the designer of the blue flag with 12 gold stars adopted in 1955 by the organisation’s Committee of Ministers.

This selection of designs for flags for the Council of Europe, dating from the 1950s, includes the amended proposal from Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, inspired by the Paneuropean flag, together with proposals from graphics experts and individuals.

These 12 proposals for flags for the Council of Europe were submitted by Alwin Mondon, a cartographer in Bad Godesberg.

On 25 September 1953, the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe decides to adopt as its emblem a blue flag with a circle of 15 gold stars.

On 25 September 1953, the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe recommends that the Committee of Ministers adopt, as an emblem for the organisation, a blue flag with 15 gold stars. It also proposes that the emblems chosen by the other European institutions bear a close resemblance to this flag.

Description of the first flag, blue with 15 gold stars, adopted by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 September 1953.

On 26 September 1953, during a press conference held in Strasbourg, François de Menthon, President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, presents the first flag adopted as its emblem by the Assembly the previous day. The flag is blue with a circle of 15 gold stars, representing the number of member States of the organisation (including the Saar).

On 25 October 1955, having been requested by the Committee of Ministers to reconsider the question of the choice of a Council of Europe emblem, the Consultative Assembly recommends to the Committee the adoption of the blue flag with a circle of 12 gold stars rather than the constellation of stars devised by Salvador de Madariaga. The Assembly also proposes that the emblems chosen by the other European institutions bear a close resemblance to the new flag.

On 8 December 1955, the Committee of Ministers decides to adopt for the Council of Europe an emblem in the form of a blue flag with a circle of 12 gold stars.

Description of the European flag adopted in 1955, together with a note from the Secretariat General of the Council of Europe on its use.

The European flag, adopted by the Council of Europe on 8 December 1955.

This booklet, produced by the Directorate of Information of the Council of Europe, outlines and recounts the history of the European flag.

In 1975, this Council of Europe postcard celebrates the 20th anniversary of the blue flag with 12 gold stars. The flag was designed by Arsène Heitz, an employee in the Council’s Mail Service, and adopted as the European organisation’s emblem by the Committee of Ministers on 8 December 1955.

In this recommendation dated 3 October 1984 relating to European cooperation, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe requests confirmation from the Committee of Ministers that the organisation’s symbols — the flag and anthem — may be used by the European Communities (see Section A: ‘On complementarity with the European Community’).

In this work, published in 1985, Robert Bichet, rapporteur to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for a European Emblem, recounts the history of the European flag.

In 1996, the Council of Europe and the European Commission jointly publish a graphics guide about the use and reproduction of the European flag.

Adopted as part of an information strategy seeking to improve the visibility of the Council of Europe, the resolution adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 11 April 2000 emphasises the need to supplement the common European symbols (the blue flag with the 12 gold stars and the European anthem) by distinctive symbols which are proper to the organisation.

In this film clip, the Belgian Paul M. G. Lévy, former Director of the Information and Press Service of the Council of Europe, gives an account of the origins and the symbolic meaning of the blue flag with a circle of 12 gold stars which was adopted as an emblem, on 8 December 1955, by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and, in June 1985, by the 10 Member States of the European Community at the Milan European Council.

In this letter dated June 1958, the Director of Information and Press at the Council of Europe, Paul M. G. Lévy, refers to the emblem of the European Coal and Steel Community which was used at the World’s Fair held in Brussels from 17 April to 19 October 1958. This flag has six gold stars on a half-black, half-blue background representing coal and steel.

In 1958, the flag of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) had six gold stars on a half-black, half-blue background (symbolically representing coal and steel). The number of stars was increased in accordance with the successive ECSC enlargements before being set at 12 after the 1986 enlargement. The colour of the stars changed from gold to silver. This document, dating from 1978, reproduces the ECSC flag with nine silver stars, representing the nine Member States at the time.

The flag of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1986 to 2002. From 1958, the date of the adoption of the first ECSC flag, the number of stars represented the number of Member States and was increased in line with the successive enlargements of the ECSC before being fixed at 12 after the enlargement of 1986.

ECSC flag lowering ceremony on 23 July 2002 in Brussels, on the occasion of the expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community 50 years after its entry into force.

On 23 July 2002, in Brussels, the flag of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is lowered during a ceremony held in the presence of Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, and of Enrico Gibellieri, the last President of the ECSC Consultative Committee, to mark the expiry of the Treaty of Paris which established the ECSC for a period of 50 years. Later, at a reception at the Egmont Palace, Romano Prodi pays a warm tribute to the work of the first European Community and to individual former officials of the High Authority.

Dans ce rapport du 9 novembre 1959, fait au nom de la commission des affaires politiques et des questions institutionnelles de l’Assemblée parlementaire européenne, le rapporteur Marinus van der Goes van Naters analyse les problèmes que posent les relations des Communautés européennes avec l'extérieur, en particulier le droit de légation et de pavillon. Annexée à ce document, une note du secrétaire général du Conseil de l’Europe insiste sur l’importance d’avoir un emblème commun, composé d’un nombre purement symbolique d’étoiles, représentant l’Europe; chaque institution restant libre de placer sur son pavillon les symboles ou les signes qui lui paraissent opportuns.

Dans cette note complémentaire d'octobre 1960 de la commission des affaires politiques et des questions institutionnelles de l'Assemblée parlementaire européenne, le rapporteur Marinus van der Goes van Naters se penche sur les questions relatives au nombre d'étoiles du drapeau de la Communauté européenne ainsi que sur les risques de confusion dérivant de l'utilisation d'un drapeau identique à celui du Conseil de l'Europe.

On 19 November 1960, during a debate held in the European Parliamentary Assembly on the flag of the European Communities, the Dutch representative, Wilhelmus Johannes Schuijt, proposes an emblem with vertical red, yellow, green and blue stripes and a circle of six silver stars. However, his suggestion does not find approval among his colleagues in the Assembly.

Suite à la recommandation de l'Assemblée parlementaire européenne, du 19 novembre 1960, d'organiser un concours pour la création d'un drapeau propre aux trois Communautés européennes, le président du conseil d'administration du service commun "Presse et Information" propose, dans une note du 13 février 1961 adressée au président de la commission des Affaires politiques, une procédure d'établissement et de sélection des projets.

Résolution du Parlement européen, du 11 avril 1983, sur l'adoption d'un drapeau pour la Communauté européenne.

Suite à la résolution du Parlement européen, du 11 avril 1983, sur l'adoption d'un drapeau pour la Communauté européenne, la commission juridique du Parlement européen, propose, dans un avis du 26 avril 1984, la mise en place d'un concours pour le choix d'un drapeau propre à la Communauté et apparenté à celui du Conseil de l'Europe.

At the Milan European Council of June 1985, the Heads of State or Government choose the same flag and emblem for the European Community as those adopted by the Committee of Ministers in 1955 for the Council of Europe. This flag is also that of the Community institutions since 1986 and of the European Union since 1993.

Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of the European Communities, greets the crowd at the ceremony held on 29 May 1986 which saw the blue banner with 12 gold stars, the flag of the Community and its institutions, raised for the first time in front of the seat of the Commission in Brussels.

In 1996, the Council of Europe and the European Commission jointly publish a graphics guide about the use and reproduction of the European flag.

In 2005, as part of the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag, the Council of Europe answers questions about the origins, the designer, the adoption and the symbolism of the blue flag with 12 gold stars.

In 2005, this Council of Europe and European Union poster celebrates the 50th anniversary of the European flag.

On 16 November 2005, a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag is held in the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg, in the presence of the representatives of the institutions of the Council of Europe and of the European Union.

On 16 November 2005, at the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, René van der Linden, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg.

On 16 November 2005, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, René van der Linden, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg during the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag.

On 16 November 2005, at the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag, the Permanent Representative of Portugal and Chairman of the Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe, Joaquim Duarte, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg.

On 16 November 2005, the Permanent Representative of Portugal and Chairman of the Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe, Joaquim Duarte, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg during the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag.

On 16 November 2005, at the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag, the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell Fontelles, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg.

On 16 November 2005, the President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell Fontelles, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg during the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag.

On 16 November 2005, at the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg.

On 16 November 2005, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg during the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag.

On 16 November 2005, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, delivers an address in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg during the celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag.

On 16 November 2005, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles, President of the European Parliament, Terry Davis, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, and René van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, attend the official ceremony for the raising of the European flag in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg as part of the celebrations held to mark the flag’s 50th anniversary.

In front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg, at the ceremony held on 16 November 2005 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the European flag, young people spread out the stars of the largest flag ever produced (46 x 25 m).

On 16 November 2005, during the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the European flag, a giant flag — the largest in the world — is laid out on the lawn in front of the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg.

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.

Televised information film broadcast in November 2005 to mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the blue flag with a circle of 12 gold stars by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. This flag was also chosen by the Ten, in June 1985 at the Milan European Council, as an emblem of the European Community.