The European flag consists of a circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background. Although the flag is most commonly associated with the European Union (EU), it was initially used by the Council of Europe (COE) and was intended to represent Europe as a whole as opposed to any particular organisation such as the EU or the COE.

The flag appears on the face of all euro currency banknotes, and the stars on euro coins as well as driving licences and licence plates issued in the member countries of the EU.

The flag was originally adopted by the Council of Europe on December 8, 1955, from one of many designs attributed to Arsène Heitz[1]. On 25 October 1955 the Parliamentary Assembly made the unanimous decision to adopt a circle of gold stars on a blue background as an emblem. On 8 December 1955 the Committee of Ministers adopted this as the European flag. "Against the blue sky of the Western world, the stars represent the peoples of Europe in a circle, the symbol of unity. Their number shall be invariably set at twelve, the symbol of completeness and perfection ... just like the twelve signs of the zodiac represent the whole universe, the twelve gold stars stand for all peoples of Europe – including those who cannot as yet take part in building up Europe in unity and peace." The Council of Europe from the beginning desired it to be used by other regional organisations seeking European integration.

On 11 April 1983 the European Parliament accepts the flag as the official emblem of the European Union. The European Community (EC) adopted it on May 26, 1986. The European Union, which was established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 to replace the EC and encompass its functions, also adopted the flag. Since then the use of the flag has been controlled jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Union.

The number of stars on the flag is fixed at 12 and is not related to the number of member states of the EU. In 1953, the Council of Europe had 15 members; it was proposed that the future flag should have one star for each member, and would not change based on future members. West Germany objected to this as one of the members was the disputed area of Saarland, and to have its own star would imply sovereignty for the region. On this basis, France also objected to fourteen stars, as this would imply the absorption of Saarland into Germany. Myth has it that the Italian representative then objected that thirteen was an unlucky number, as well as the fact that early flags of the United States featured that number of stars. Twelve was eventually adopted as a number with no political connotations and as a symbol of perfection and completeness[2] because of the ubiquity of the number for groups in European cultures and traditions such as:

• 12 symbols of the zodiac
• 12 hours on a clock
• 12 months in a year
• 12 Apostles
• 12 Caesars chronicled by Suetonius
• 12 Olympian gods
• 12 tables of Roman Law

The number has led to a number of assertions that there is further meaning in the stars, for example its similarity to the twelve-star halo of the Virgin Mary seen in Roman Catholic art. Most non-partisan authorities on the subject disregard such theories as myth.[3] However, flag designer Arsène Heitz has acknowledged that the Book of Revelation (which, in turn, is the source for the mentioned twelve-star halo of the Virgin Mary) helped to inspire him.[4]

• 
  This flag is, or the individual stars are, upside-down.
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  The stars have been rotated. All the stars should be identically oriented, with two points at the bottom and one at the top.
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  The stars are in the wrong positions; they should be in the "o'clock" positions.

• There are fifteen stars on this regulation sticker, presumably in the mistaken belief that the stars represent the number of member states (from 1995 to 2004, the EU had 15 states).
  There are fifteen stars on this regulation sticker, presumably in the mistaken belief that the stars represent the number of member states (from 1995 to 2004, the EU had 15 states).
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  These stars have been individually rotated. They should, instead, all have one point facing upward, and two downward

Following the signing of the Treaty of Nice in May 2001, which made Brussels the official capital of the EU^{[citation needed]}, the then President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi and the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt invited the designer Rem Koolhaas to discuss the necessities and requirements of a European capital.

During these talks and as an impetus for further discussion, Koolhaas and his architecture firm OMA suggested the development of a visual language. This idea inspired a series of drawings and drafts, including the "Barcode". The barcode tries to unite the flags of all the EU member countries into a single, colourful symbol.

In the current European flag, there is a fixed number of stars. In the barcode, however, new Member States of the EU can be added without space constraints. Originally, the barcode displayed 15 EU countries. In 2004, the symbol was adapted to include the ten new Member States.

Since the time of the first drafts of the barcode it has never been officially used by commercial or political institutions. During the Austrian EU Presidency 2006 it was officially used for the first time, but only as part of the logo of the presidency, not as a new EU flag. The logo has already been used for the EU information campaign which will also be continued during the Austrian EU Presidency. Overall this design was badly received. People compared it to a beach towel, a packet of refresher sweets, wallpaper, the TV test card and deckchair fabric.[5]

It should be noted that this idea was never a serious one and the designer himself indicated that it was only a concept for an exercise and never intended as a genuine proposal to replace the present flag. The European Commission also stated that no plans were ever made to consider replacing the flag adopted from the Council of Europe.^{[citation needed]}

• European symbols
• Flags of Europe

• Council of Europe on the European Flag
• Graphical specifications for the European Emblem
• EU Insignia/Flag Site
• Flag of the European Union European Navigator
• "Down with EU stars, run up stripes". BBC News. May 8, 2002.
• European Union at Flags of the World
• Memorandum on design and designer of European flag