Before the current EU flag, many others were proposed, some quite curious.
Today, May 9is celebrated on europe day. To commemorate it, the Mastodon account of the European Union has published some of the EU flags that were discarded, before choosing the final one. Among them, one of the Spanish writer, minister and diplomat Salvador de Madariaga.
On May 9, 1950, the first stone of the European Union. Just 5 years after the end of World War II, with Europe devastated and wounds still healing, France proposed to Germany the joint administration of coal and steel from both countries.
It was a very important symbolic gesture, because these two materials were the basis of the arms industry of the time. With this agreement, both countries not only shared a market, but also prevented both of them from starting a new war.
That was one of the foundations of the European Union. For centuries Europeans have suffered countless wars and territorial disputes. The economic union between countries, which would later also be political, would prevent future warsas it has been.
Since then the only war that has taken place in Europe has been in the Balkans, in the 1990s, but it was between non-EU countries.
The unknown flags of the European Union
Now the EU now has 27 countriesand it is also an economic and political union, which has helped many countries, including Spain, to prosper.
The EU was formalized through various stages, but we can say that it started in 1951, with the Treaty of Paris. As it consolidated it was decided to choose a flag of the European Union.
It is an idea that was born much earlier, and for this reason, since the 1920s, different flags of Europe were proposed, which were discarded. Here you can see them:
The 1923 flag already had the blue color representative of the continent, but the cross did not match the secular spirit of the EU.
The one from 1943 seems to want to collect the colors of different countries, but leaves others out.
The one from 1951 was created by the Spanish politician and writer Salvador de Maradiaga, at that time exiled in the United Kingdom. It’s interesting because It has the current colors, blue and yellow. If you look closely, it is the map of Europe without borders, where the capitals of the countries are highlighted.
After several attempts, French artist Arsène Heitz designed the current EU flagthe blue background with twelve yellow stars in a circle.
The circle represents union and the 12 identical stars, equality and solidarity between countries. All the stars point upwards, and are placed equidistant, in the same positions as the hours on a clock.
We have seen a few European Union flags that never existedbut without a doubt the current flag seems the most symbolic and representative.