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The Council of Europe (COE) has developed a series of 'European symbols' for the continent of Europe, and these have since been shared with the European Union (EU). They are intended both as symbols of the organisations themselves, and as a focus for a form of Pan-European identity. Later, the EU has created further symbols for itself.

Contents

Flag

Presidency insignia

Institutional emblems

Institutions and bodies

Interinstitutional services and agencies (decentralised organisations)

Anthem

Europe Day

Motto

In the official languages of member-states of the EU

In languages used in the candidate countries

In other languages used by EU citizens

In languages used in the potential candidate countries

Proposed Reform treaty

See also

External links

European flag

European anthem

Europe day

European motto

Flag

The flag of Europe is twelve golden stars (pointing upwards) in a circle on a blue background. Although the flag is most commonly associated with the European Union, it was initially used by the Council of Europe in 1955, and is considered to represent Europe as a whole as opposed to any particular organisation such as the EU or the COE.
The flag was adopted in 1985 by all EU heads of State and government as the official emblem of the European Union and, since the beginning of 1986, it is used by all European institutions.
The Council of Europe — which does not have an organic link with the European Union — owns the intellectual property of the European flag.
The flag has also given Europe its "national colours" of blue and gold (yellow).

Presidency insignia

Every Presidency of the Council of the European Union has its own logo and visual expression. These sets of colours and designs follow the politics of the EU as a whole for the six months length of the presidencies. The EU has no official ''coat-of-arms'', and in a sense the presidency logos fills the 'symbol deficit' of the Union. It is always commented in the media when launched.
The Portuguese 2007 presidency logo is called "the flowerflag", highlighted in the colours of the flags of the member states in Presidency video idents.

Institutional emblems

Every institution, body and agency of the EU has an individual symbol:

Institutions and bodies

★ European Parliament ★ European Commission ★ Council of the European Union ★ European Court of Auditors

★ Court of Justice of the European Communities ★ European Economic and Social Committee ★ Committee of the Regions ★ European Investment Bank

★ European Investment Fund ★ European Central Bank ★ European Ombudsman ★ European Data Protection Supervisor

Interinstitutional services and agencies (decentralised organisations)

★ Fisheries Control Agency ★ Plant Variety Office ★ Eurojust ★ Agency for Reconstruction ★ Administrative School ★ Agency for Safety and Health at Work ★ Aviation Safety Agency ★ Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ★ Centre for the Development of Vocational Training ★ Chemicals Agency

★ Personnel Selection Office ★ Defence Agency ★ Environment Agency ★ Food Safety Authority ★ Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ★ Maritime Safety Agency ★ Medicines Agency ★ Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction ★ Fundamental Rights Agency ★ Network and Information Security Agency

★ Police College ★ Police Office ★ Railway Agency ★ Training Foundation ★ Institute for Security Studies ★ Satellite Centre ★ Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market ★ Publications office ★ Translation Centre ★ Frontex

Anthem

Main articles: European anthem


The European anthem is based on the the prelude to "The Ode to Joy", 4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th symphony. Due to the large number of languages in Europe, it is an instrumental version only with the original German lyrics having no official status. The anthem was announced on 19 January 1972 by the Council of Europe after being arranged by conductor Herbert von Karajan.
The anthem was launched via a major information campaign on Europe Day, 5 May 1972 and formally adopted by European Community leaders in 1985. It does not replace national anthems, but is intended to celebrate their shared values.[1]. It is played on official occasions by both the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Europe Day

The Council of Europe has celebrated its founding on 5 May, 1949 as "Europe Day" since 1964.
What is now the European Union adopted 9 May as "Europe Day" at the Milan summit in 1985, to celebrate that Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations, on 9 May, 1950. This proposal, known as the ''Schuman declaration'', is considered by many to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
9 May is now the more commonly observed date, though some Europeans still prefer 5 May, since the Council of Europe was designed to defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, while the Schuman speech was simply proposing a sharing of French and German coal and steel. Incidentally, May 9 is also celebrated in many former Soviet Union countries as Victory Day, the end of World War II. This is celebrated on May 8 in most Western European countries, but is celebrated on May 5 in Denmark and the Netherlands.

Motto

An EU motto, ''In varietate concordia'' (Latin for ''united in diversity''), was first established through an unofficial process in 2000. It was selected from entries proposed by school pupils submitted to the website www.devise-europe.org, and then accepted by the President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine. The modified version, ''United in diversity'', has been written into the English-language version of the currently stalled Constitution for Europe, and now appears on official EU websites. See www.eurominority.org for the motto in many languages not listed below.
Interestingly, the proposed change would make the motto essentially the same as the South African motto officially adopted in 2000-04-27: "''!ke e: /xarra //ke''" in /Xam, an extinct Khoisan language. "''Bhinneka Tunggal Ika''", translated as "Unity in Diversity", is also the national motto of Indonesia. It is also similar to "''E pluribus unum''" (Latin for "out of many, one"), one of the mottos of the United States of America (although this refers to the fifty states comprising the Union and not the diversity of its population.)
Unity in diversity is the present official motto of Papua New Guinea.

In the official languages of member-states of the EU ★ Bulgarian - Единни в многообразието ★ Czech - Jednota v rozmanitosti ★ Danish - Forenet i mangfoldighed ★ Dutch - Eenheid in verscheidenheid ★ English - United in diversity ★ Estonian - Ühinenud mitmekesisuses ★ Finnish - Erilaisuudessaan yhdistynyt / Moninaisuudessaan yhtenäinen ★ French - Unis dans la diversité ★ German - In Vielfalt geeint ★ Greek - Ενότητα στην πολυµορφία ★ Hungarian - Egység a sokféleségben ★ Irish - Aontaithe d'ainneoin na héagsúlachta ★ Italian - Uniti nella diversità ★ Latvian - Vienotība dažādībā ★ Lithuanian - Vienybė įvairialypiškume ★ Maltese - Fit-tiżwiq l-għaqda ★ Polish - Jedność w różnorodności ★ Portuguese - Unidos na diversidade ★ Romanian - Uniţi în diversitate ★ Slovak - Zjednotení v rozmanitosti ★ Slovene - Združeni v raznolikosti ★ Spanish - Unidos en la diversidad ★ Swedish - Förenade i mångfalden In languages used in the candidate countries ★ Croatian - Ujedinjeni u raznolikosti ★ Macedonian - Обединети во различноста ★ Turkish - Çoklukta birlik

In other languages used by EU citizens ★ Armenian - Miutyun` bazmazanutyan mej ★ Arabic - الاتحاد في الأختلاف ★ Aragonese - Unitos en a dibersidá ★ Basque - Aniztasunean bat eginik ★ Belarusian - Адзінства ў разнастайнасці ★ Breton - Unanet el liested ★ Catalan - Units en la diversitat ★ Corsican - Uniti in a diversità ★ Esperanto - Unuiĝintaj en diverseco ★ Frisian - Ienheid yn ferskaat ★ Galician - Unidos na diversidade ★ Latin - In varietate concordia ★ Luxembourgish - Eenheet an der Verschiddenheet ★ Russian - Единство в разнообразии ★ Sardinian - Umpare in sa diversidade. ★ Scots - Ae mynd, monie kynd ★ Scottish Gaelic - Aonachd ann an eugsamhlachd ★ Welsh - Yng nglym mewn gwahaniaeth ★ Rusyn - Единство в раздилности ★ Turkish - Çoklukta birlik ★ Ukrainian - З'єднанi в рiзноманiтностi (Zyednani v riznomanitnosti) In languages used in the potential candidate countries ★ Bosnian - Ujedinjeni u različitosti ★ Serbian - Уједињени у различитости / Ujedinjeni u različitosti

Proposed Reform treaty

In the current draft of the Reform Treaty, the euro is written to be the official currency of the Union, being the only "survivor" of Article IV-1 (The symbols of the Union) of the rejected constitution.

See also

★ National symbols

External links

★ "The symbols of the EU", Europa website.

European flag

★ Council of Europe Logo and the European Flag

★ European Flag and Insignia

★ Why the European flag has been chosen : European Navigator

European anthem

★ Original choir version

★ The European Anthem and downloads - Council of Europe website

★ The European Anthem - European Commission website

★ Easybyte - free easy piano arrangement of "Ode to Joy / EU European Union Anthem" plus midi sound file

★ European anthem European Navigator

Europe day

★ Good background by the European Commission Representation in the United Kingdom

★ An article on ''Europe Day'' and the European Union by Mark Steyn

★ European commission poster: European Navigator

European motto

★ Draft European constitution, 18 July 2003, Article IV-1, The symbols of the Union. (It's on top of p222 in all languages but Swedish.)

★ Une devise pour l'Europe

★ The EU at a glance (official EU site)

★ The European motto (Eurominority site)