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European Union

members (1996-12-01) : Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

The flag of the Council of Europe

The above EU flag was originally the flag of the Council of Europe, another, older and wider, European institution.
giuseppe bottasini

Flag of the European Parliament

In 1986, the European Parliament already had a flag, blue bearing a gold wreath surrounding the letters

EP
PE

Whether this is still in use, or has been replaced by the CofE/EU flag, I do not know.

Roy Stilling - 1996-05-01

The 'Marian Seal' hypothesis

I have recently read an article about the hypothesis that the 12 stars of European Union are derived from a Marian seal very common at Lourdes (France): in fact the author of the flag of Council of Europe was very devoted to Our Lady of Lourdes.
giuseppe bottasini - 1995-11-22

I have also seen the argument that the flag and emblem of the European Union is in fact a catholic symbol. This argument has been put forward by Lutheran north Europeans as a contribution to the line of thought that the EU is a catholic (that is elitist, non-democratic etc.) project the north Europeans (that is democratic and Lutheran) ought to stay out of. Some of the more extreme argue that the EU is a fullfilment of the prophesies in the The Book of Revelation - the resurrection of the Roman Empire etc. (evidence: the EU was founded with the treaty of Rome). Chapter12 verse 1 reads: 'After that there appeared a great sign in heaven: a woman robed with the sun, beneath her feet the moon, and on her head a crown of TWELVE STARS.' In church art this crown is in the form of a circle of stars around the Virgin Mary's head (the cathedral in Strasbourg is said to have a stained glass window looking very much like the European emblem). See how catholic this is?
Now, the argument is that the flag of the Council of Europe, which the EU took over, was decided by a small group of representatives from the catholic member states (in secretive meetings from which there is no written record) and without explaining the symbolism of the circle of stars. The gullible protestants thought the design was OK and voted for it (that is, they were duped). In this way the non-catholics have been forced into worshiping the Virgin Mary when displaying the EU flag.
Now, I don't believe in this argument, but is such a beautiful conspiracy theory that I had to comment on it.
jan oskar engene - 1995-11-23