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54-520: The flag of Europe or European flag consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It is the official flag of the European Union . 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

108-677: A "European lottery" to campaigning for the introduction of local voting rights for foreign nationals throughout Europe. Under the header of "strengthening of the Community's image and identity", the Committee suggested the introduction of "a flag and an emblem", recommending a design based on the Council of Europe flag, but with the addition of "a gold letter E" in the center of the circle of stars. The European Council held in Milan on 28/29 June 1985 largely followed

162-551: A 32-page cut-down version of the main broadsheet targeted to a younger public. The paper does not appear on Sundays, but the linked publication Welt am Sonntag takes its place. Defunct Defunct Die Welt was founded in Hamburg in 1946 by the British occupying forces, aiming to provide a "quality newspaper" modelled on The Times . It originally carried news and British-viewpoint editorial content, but from 1947 it adopted

216-411: A capital letter (e.g. "Gules, a fess Or") so as not to confuse it with the conjunction "or". However, this incorrect heraldic usage is not met with in standard reference works such as Bernard Burke 's General Armory , 1884 and Debrett's Peerage . Fox-Davies advocated leaving all tinctures uncapitalized. A correctly stated blazon should eliminate any possible confusion between the tincture or and

270-526: A cross for several reasons. Firstly, the cross symbolizes roads crossing, and also represents the east, the west, the north, and the south with its arms. Furthermore, the cross appears in most of the European Council members' flags, and it is the oldest and most noble symbol in Europe. Moreover, the cross depicted Christianity. As far as the colours are concerned, he proposed them to be white and green, colours of

324-525: A crown and the stability of government. The blue background resembles the sky and symbolises truth and the intellect. It is also the colour traditionally used to represent the Virgin Mary. In many paintings of the Virgin Mary as Stella Maris she is crowned with a circle of twelve stars. In 1987, following the adoption of the flag by the EC, Arsène Heitz (1908–1989), one of the designers who had submitted proposals for

378-413: A formal change in the institution's rules of procedure to make "better use of the symbols". Specifically, the flag would be present in all meeting rooms (not just the hemicycle) and at all official events. The proposal was passed on 8 October 2008 by 503 votes to 96 (15 abstentions). Or (heraldry) The word "gold" is occasionally used in place of "or" in blazon , sometimes to prevent repetition of

432-560: A new logo with a dark blue globe, a reduced number of columns from seven to six, and typography based on the Freight typeface designed by Joshua Darden . Welt Kompakt was also redesigned to use that typeface. In 2009, the Sunday edition Welt am Sonntag was recognized as one of the "World's Best-Designed Newspapers" by the Society for News Design , along with four other newspapers. On 2 May 2014,

486-412: A policy of providing two leading articles on major questions, one British and one German. The newspaper was bought by Axel Springer in 1953. The 1993 circulation of the paper was 209,677 copies. At its peak in the occupation period, it had a circulation of around a million. In 2002 the paper experimented with a Bavarian edition. In November 2010, a redesign for the newspaper was launched, featuring

540-499: A symbol. Numerous proposals were looked into. Among the unsuccessful proposals was the flag of Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi 's International Paneuropean Union , which he had himself recently adopted for the European Parliamentary Union . The design was a blue field with a red cross inside an orange circle at the centre. Kalergi was very committed to defending the cross as "the great symbol of Europe's moral unity",

594-588: Is in Berlin, in conjunction with the Berliner Morgenpost . Die Welt was a founding member of the European Dailies Alliance , and has a longstanding co-operation with comparable daily newspapers from other countries, including The Daily Telegraph (UK), Le Figaro (France), and ABC (Spain). From 2004 to 2019, the newspaper also published a compact edition entitled Welt Kompakt ,

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648-417: Is in honor of Willy Haas who founded Die Literarische Welt in 1925. Die Welt has repeatedly been criticized for publishing climate-sceptic articles. A study published in 2017, which examined the publications of various newspapers over a period of one year from June 2012 to May 2013, found that 43% articles included in the sample were climate-sceptical, the highest value of all German newspapers. During

702-655: Is usually said to represent the following: Die Welt Die Welt ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper , published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE . Die Welt is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group, and considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , the Süddeutsche Zeitung and

756-592: The Frankfurter Rundschau . The modern paper takes a self-described "liberal cosmopolitan " position in editing, but it is generally considered to be conservative. As of 2014, the average circulation of Die Welt is about 180,000. The paper can be obtained in more than 130 countries. Daily regional editions appear in Berlin and Hamburg. A daily regional supplement also appears in Bremen . The main editorial office

810-724: The European Commission ) for the first time on 29 May 1986. The European Union, which was established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 to replace the European Communities and encompass its functions, has retained de facto use of the "Community logo" of the EC. Technically and officially, the "European flag" as used by the European Union remains not a "flag" but "a Community 'logo' — or 'emblem' — [...] eligible to be reproduced on rectangular pieces of fabric". In 1997,

864-508: The Pan-European movement wrote a memorandum which contained some rules that a flag for such union should follow. The rules he stated where: After these statements, Coudenhove-Kalergi proposed that the Pan-European movement flag would be the perfect one to fit these criteria 15 July 1951, the consultative assembly put forward a final memorandum on the European flag. The symbols proposed where

918-548: The Red Cross in particular being "recognized by the whole world, by Christian and non-Christian nations[,] as a symbol of international charity and of the brotherhood of man", but the proposal was rejected by Turkey (a member of the Council of Europe since 1949) on grounds of its religious associations in spite of Kalergi's suggestion of adding a crescent alongside the cross to overcome the Muslim objections. Other proposals included

972-530: The Strasbourg coat of arms at the centre was only used for the pennants of Council personages and flags flown on Council buildings, and omitted in all other cases. The council put forward this proposal, which had a green flag with a white and red Star of Liberation, and the Strasbourg coat of arms on the upper left-hand corner. The star in a circle was in 1944-5 the insignia of the armies of Liberation. appeared in

1026-486: The face of a clock . The diameter of each star is equal to one-ninth of the height of the hoist. The colours are regulated in the 1996 guide by the EC, and equivalently in the 2004 guide by the Council of Europe. The base colour of the flag is defined as Pantone " Reflex Blue ", while the golden stars are portrayed in Pantone "Yellow": The 2013 logo of the Council of Europe has the colours: The twelve-star "flag of Europe"

1080-621: The "Central and Eastern Eurobarometer " poll included a section intending to "discover the level of public awareness of the European Union" in what were then candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Interviewees were shown "a sticker of the European flag" and asked to identify it. Responses considered correct were: the European Union, the European Community, the Common Market , and "Europe in general". 52% of those interviewed gave one of

1134-403: The Council of Europe in 2004, the flag is rectangular with 2:3 proportions: its fly (width) is one and a half times the length of its hoist (height). Twelve yellow stars are centred in a circle (the radius of which is a third of the length of the hoist) upon a blue background. All the stars are upright (one point straight up), have five points and are spaced equally, like the hour positions on

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1188-531: The Council of Europe lobbied for other European organisations to adopt the flag as a sign of European unity. The European Parliament took the initiative in seeking a flag to be adopted by the European Communities . Shortly after the first direct elections in 1979 a draft resolution was put forward on the issue. The resolution proposed that the Communities' flag should be that of the Council of Europe and it

1242-461: The Council of Europe responsible for designing the flag, in a 1989 statement maintained that he had not been aware of any religious connotations. In an interview given 26 February 1998, Lévy denied not only awareness of the Marian connection, but also denied that the final design of a circle of twelve stars was Heitz's. To the question "Who really designed the flag?" Lévy replied: I did, and I calculated

1296-496: 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 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

1350-597: The European Movement, which was of great significance since 1947. Green also depicted hope, and the green cross over a white background was a design that had not been used yet. Finally, Levy proposed that the arms of Strasbourg was an important element to be added as it represented where the council would be, and being located in the heart of the cross meant that the council was the point where the European roads met. Shortly after this design considerations by Paul Levy, on 27 July 1950, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, president of

1404-536: The Madonna is inspired by the banner of the cathedral's Congrégation Mariale des Hommes , and the twelve stars are found on the statue venerated by this congregation inside the cathedral (twelve is also the number of members of the congregation's council). The Regional Office for Cultural Affairs describe this stained glass window called "Le vitrail de l'Europe de Max Ingrand" (The Glass Window of Europe of Max Ingrand). According to graphical specifications published online by

1458-813: The Swiss German business magazine BILANZ began to be published as a monthly supplement of Die Welt . On 18 January 2018 the German TV channel N24 changed its name to Welt . The paper was banned in Egypt in February 2008 due to the publication of cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad . Since 1999, the Die Welt book supplement Die Literarische Welt ("The Literary World") has presented an annual € 10,000 literature prize available to international authors. The award

1512-556: The case of the Cross of Burgundy , emblem of the "Grand Duchy of the West". (on the official documents, "sky-blue" does not refer to the shade, but to the symbolism of the colour. The French translation, the heraldic description and hatching pattern, and colour illustrations make it clear that the background was azure (blue) and not light blue.) Following Expo 58 in Brussels, the flag caught on and

1566-426: The conjunction "or" (which is rare in blazons in any case), certainly for the reader with a basic competence in heraldry. Or plain are the arms of Spanish family de Menezes. The different tinctures are sometimes said to be associated with special meanings and virtues, and with certain elements and precious stones, although these associations have been mostly disregarded by serious heraldists. Sources vary, but or

1620-458: The correct answers, 15% gave a wrong answer (naming another institution, such as NATO or the United Nations), and 35% could or would not identify it. In 2002, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed a symbol, dubbed the "barcode", which displayed the colours of the national flags of the EU member states in vertical stripes. It was reported as a replacement for the European flag, which was not

1674-635: The crown of twelve stars of the Woman of the Apocalypse , often found in Marian iconography (see below ). On 25 September 1953, the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe recommended that a blue flag with fifteen gold stars be adopted as an emblem for the organisation, the number fifteen reflecting the number of states of the Council of Europe. West Germany objected to the fifteen-star design, as one of

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1728-561: The effect that Heitz's proposal contained varying numbers of stars, from which the version with twelve stars was chosen by the Committee of Ministers meeting at Deputy level in January 1955 as one out of two remaining candidate designs. Lévy's 1998 interview apparently gave rise to a new variant of the Marian anecdote. An article published in Die Welt in August 1998 alleged that it was Lévy himself who

1782-564: The exact design of the new flag. Officially adopted on 8 December 1955, the flag was unveiled at the Château de la Muette in Paris on 13 December 1955. For the flag of the Council of Europe, many stylistic proposals were made in regards to colours and symbolism. These first proposals were made 19 January 1950 by Paul Levy in a letter to the Secretary-General. He proposed that the flag should contain

1836-588: The flag was the European Movement , which had a large green E on a white background , a design was based on the Olympic rings , eight golden rings on a blue background, rejected due to the rings' similarity with "dial", "chain" and "zeros", or a large yellow star on a blue background, rejected due to its equality with the flag of the Belgian Congo. The Consultative Assembly narrowed their choice to two designs. One

1890-697: The flag's design, suggested a religious inspiration for it. He stated that the circle of stars was based on the iconographic tradition of showing the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Woman of the Apocalypse , wearing a "crown of twelve stars". Heitz also made a connection to the date of the flag's adoption, 8 December 1955, coinciding with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Paul M. G. Lévy , then Director of Information at

1944-490: The flag, were not included in the replacement Treaty of Lisbon , which entered into force in 2009. Instead, a separate declaration by sixteen Member States was included in the final act of the Treaty of Lisbon stating that the flag, the anthem, the motto and the currency and Europe Day "will for them continue as symbols to express the sense of community of the people in the European Union and their allegiance to it." In reaction to

1998-463: The following Furthermore, several colours were also proposed: In the end, the flag of Europe was chosen to have 12 five-pointed golden stars in a circle over a blue background, probably inspired by the Pan-European flag and other designs such as Salvador de Madariaga's and Arsène Heitz's proposals. [REDACTED] However he agreed that the white ground should be left with a green cross provided

2052-548: The intention. It was not adopted by the EU or any other organisation at the time, but an updated version was used in the visual identity of the Austrian EU Presidency in 2006. The official status of the emblem as the flag of the European Union was to be formalised as part of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe . However, as the proposed treaty failed ratification, the mention of all state-like emblems, including

2106-494: The members was Saar Protectorate , and to have its own star would imply sovereignty for the region. The Committee of Ministers (the council's main decision-making body) agreed with the Assembly that the flag should be a circle of stars, but opted for a fixed number of twelve stars, " representing perfection and entirety". The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 October 1955 agreed to this. Paul M. G. Lévy drew up

2160-456: The official status of a "logo". This compromise was widely disregarded from the beginning, and the "European logo", in spite of the explicit language of giving it the status of a "logo", was referred to as the "Community flag" or even "European flag" from the outset. The Communities began to use the "emblem" as its de facto flag from 1986, raising it outside the Berlaymont building (the seat of

2214-460: The present European Union, in 1986. The Council of Europe gave the flag a symbolic description in the following terms, though the official symbolic description adopted by the EU omits the reference to the "Western world": Against the blue sky of the Western world, the stars symbolise the peoples of Europe in a form of a circle, a sign of union. Their number is invariably twelve , the figure twelve being

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2268-414: The proportions to be used for the geometric design. Arsène Heitz, who was an employee in the mail service, put in all sorts of proposals, including the 15-star design. But he submitted too many designs. He wanted to do the European currencies with 15 stars in the corner. He wanted to do national flags incorporating the Council of Europe flag. Carlo Curti Gialdino (2005) has reconstructed the design process to

2322-543: The ratification of the European Constitution in 2005, and mention of all emblems suggesting statehood was removed from the Treaty of Lisbon of 2007, although sixteen member states signed a declaration supporting the continued use of the flag. In 2007, the European Parliament officially adopted the flag for its own use. The Council of Europe in 1950 appointed a committee to study the question of adopting

2376-569: The recommendations of the Adonnino Committee. But as the adoption of a flag was strongly reminiscent of a national flag representing statehood and was extremely controversial with some member states (in particular the United Kingdom, as the proposed flag closely resembled the Queen's personal standard ), the Council of Europe's "flag of Europe" design was adopted, without the letter E, only with

2430-456: The removal of the flag from the treaty, the European Parliament , which had supported the inclusion of such symbols, backed a proposal to use these symbols "more often" on behalf of the Parliament itself; Jo Leinen , MEP for Germany, suggested that the Parliament should take "an avant-garde role" in their use. In September 2008, the Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs proposed

2484-460: The rubric Team Europe. The blazon given by the EU in 1996 describe the design as: "On an azure field a circle of twelve golden mullets , their points not touching." The flag used is the Flag of Europe, which consists of a circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background. Originally designed in 1955 for the Council of Europe, the flag was adopted by the European Communities , the predecessors of

2538-429: The symbol of perfection and entirety. Other symbolic interpretations have been offered based on the account of its design by Paul M. Levy . The five-pointed star is used on many national flags and represents aspiration and education. Their golden colour is that of the sun, which is said to symbolise glory and enlightenment. Their arrangement in a circle represents the constellation of Corona Borealis and can be seen as

2592-401: The word "or" in a blazon, or because this substitution was in fashion when the blazon was first written down, or when it is preferred by the officer of arms . The use of "gold" for "or" (and "silver" for "argent") was a short-lived fashion amongst certain heraldic writers in the mid-20th century who attempted to "demystify" and popularise the subject of heraldry. "Or" is sometimes spelled with

2646-466: Was accepted by the Assembly. The design was similar to Salvador de Madariaga's, but rather than a constellation, the stars were arranged in a circle. Arsène Heitz was one of several people who proposed a circle of gold stars on a blue background. None of his proposals perfectly match the design that was adopted. Paul Levy claims that he was the one who designed the template for the flag, not Arsène Heitz. In 1987, Heitz would claim that his inspiration had been

2700-505: Was adopted by the Parliament on 11 April 1983. The June 1984 European Council (the Communities' leaders) summit in Fontainebleau stressed the importance of promoting a European image and identity to citizens and the world. The European Council appointed an ad hoc committee, named "Committee for 'a People's Europe'" (Adonnino Committee). This committee submitted a substantial report, including wide-ranging suggestions, from organising

2754-512: Was by Salvador de Madariaga , the founder of the College of Europe , who suggested a constellation of stars on a blue background (positioned according to capital cities, with a large star for Strasbourg , the seat of the council). He had circulated his flag round many European capitals and the concept had found favour. The second was a variant by Arsène Heitz, who worked for the council's postal service and had submitted dozens of designs, one of which

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2808-413: Was designed in 1950 and officially adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955. The same flag was adopted by the European Parliament in 1983. The European Council adopted it as an "emblem" for the European Communities in 1985. Its status in the European Communities was inherited by the European Union upon its formation in 1993. The proposal to adopt it as official flag of the European Union failed with

2862-483: Was inspired to introduce a Marian element as he walked past a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. An article posted in La Raison in February 2000 further connected the donation of a stained glass window for Strasbourg Cathedral by the Council of Europe on 21 October 1956. This window, a work by Parisian master Max Ingrand , shows a blessing Madonna underneath a circle of 12 stars on dark blue ground. The overall design of

2916-430: Was planned as part of the 2004 European Constitution 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. The flag is used by other European entities, such as unified golf teams under

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