flag of Europe
Also known as European emblem, European flag
flag design created by the Council of Europe, then adopted as one of the official symbols of the European Communities and later of the European Union (EU); use Q98055852 for the "flag of EU" and Q105339315 for the "flag of the Council of Europe"
AI overview
The flag of Europe is a design created by the Council of Europe that was later adopted as an official symbol of the European Union and its predecessors. It matters because it serves as a recognized emblem representing European institutions and their shared values across the continent.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Flag of Europe.svg
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Flag of Europe
- inception
- 1955-12-08
- P11012
- Monday
- Unicode character
- 🇪🇺
~37 min read
Article
The flag of Europe or European flag consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the whole of Europe.
Since 1985, the flag has also been a symbol of the European Union (EU), whose 27 member states are all also CoE members, although in that year the EU had not yet assumed its present name or constitutional form (which came in steps in 1993 and 2009). Adoption by the EU, or EC as it then was, reflected a long-standing CoE desire to see the flag used by other European organisations. Official EU use widened greatly in the 1990s. Nevertheless, the flag has to date received no status in any of the EU's treaties. Its adoption as an official symbol was planned as part of the 2004 Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe but this failed to be ratified. Mention of the flag was removed in 2007 from the text of the Treaty of Lisbon, which was ratified. On the other hand, 16 EU members that year, plus France in 2017, have officially affirmed (by Declaration No. 5224) their attachment to the flag as an EU symbol.