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 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.
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.
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.
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.
This brochure, published by the European Central Bank in 2002, aims to familiarise European citizens with the euro coins and banknotes. There are reproductions of the national sides of the coins of the 12 countries of the European Union belonging to the euro zone, along with those of the three countries outside the Union — Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City — which secured the agreement of the European Community to mint their own coins.
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.
Lors du Conseil européen de Milan en juin 1985, le 9 mai devient la "journée de l'Europe" en souvenir de la déclaration de Robert Schuman du 9 mai 1950.
In May 1986, the Bulletin of the European Communities reproduces the flag of the Community and its description, together with the score of the European anthem.