Flag of Serbia and Montenegro

Flag of Serbia and Montenegro
The flag of Serbia and Montenegro was originally adopted on 27 April 1992 as the flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FR Yugoslavia) and was used as such from 1992 to 2006. After the country was renamed to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro in February 2003 it remained in use as the national flag until the country's dissolution in June 2006.
Aside from a different aspect ratio, it is essentially the same flag as the one once used by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941). The tricolor without a red star in the centre was inherited from the flag of its direct predecessor state, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1943–1992). It was similar to an inverted Dutch flag.
History
The flag of Serbia and Montenegro had its origins in the flag of Yugoslavia used by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which was later amended by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia government to display a socialist red star. Following the fall of communism and breakup of Yugoslavia, the remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro reconstituted the country on 27 April 1992 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and adopted a new flag by removing the socialist red star from the old one. This made Yugoslavia the last country in Europe to remove a red star from its flag. However, due to United Nations Security Council Resolution 777, FR Yugoslavia was not permitted to inherit SFR Yugoslavia's United Nations membership. Between 1992 and 2000, the old SFR flag continued to fly outside the United Nations Headquarters because the new government of FR Yugoslavia refused to apply for membership over their claims of sole legal state succession being rejected by the European Community, United States and other successor states of the former SFRY. Following a successful application to membership in the UN in 2000, the old flag was removed and replaced with the Federal Republic flag.
The decision to change the flag was controversial with socialist parties in FR Yugoslavia. When it was unveiled, Socialist Party of Serbia councilors in Tutin refused to work on the municipal council on the grounds that "the flag of another state is displayed in the offices of the Town Hall". As FR Yugoslavia came under UN sanctions due to ongoing wars, athletes from the country competed as Independent Olympic Participants at the 1992 Summer Olympics and marched under the neutral Olympic flag, instead of the Yugoslav one.
In 2003, when FR Yugoslavia was renamed as Serbia and Montenegro, there were disputes over any new symbols to be used for the state union. It was alleged that the new Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro prohibited the use of the old Yugoslav symbols until a law on them was brought before the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro and one was required to be brought within sixty days of the new Parliament sitting. The flag remained unchanged, however, as reaching any sort of agreement between the two sides upon a logical new flag was difficult; the individual regional flags of Serbia and Montenegro differed between each other only in the shade of blue being used, while both differed in the order of colors from the Yugoslav one. As predicted, the Serbian and Montenegrin delegations were unable to agree on a new flag so they continued to use the old Yugoslavian flag until the union's dissolution in 2006. Some Serbians and Montenegrins started to reject the flag in favour of the old flag of SFR Yugoslavia due to a sense of nostalgia and due to a feeling of abandonment from the international community. Montenegro did not support the flag continuing to be used to represent them and in 2004, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted a new flag to replace the flag of Serbia and Montenegro within their republic. However, this remained a regional flag within the union until Montenegrin independence in 2006.
During the dispute following the change of name from Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro, the flag was used to represent Serbia and Montenegro in football as UEFA allowed the Serbia and Montenegro national football team to continue to use the Yugoslavian flag and their Yugoslavian kits whilst the decision was made. In 2006, shortly after the country's dissolution, the Serbia and Montenegro football team entered the 2006 FIFA World Cup for one last time using the flag they had qualified under. Paradoxically, the team was representing a country that no longer existed under a flag that was no longer in use, as both Montenegro and Serbia adopted their own flags upon dissolution and independence.
Post-dissolution
Following Montenegro voting for independence and the union being dissolved by a unanimous vote of the Serbian deputies (as the Montenegrin deputies had boycotted it), the flag was lowered from the Parliament building in Belgrade on 5 June 2006. At the Serbian military headquarters, the flag was ceremonially lowered to "Hey, Slavs", the Serbian and Montenegrin national anthem, overseen by the Minister of Defence Zoran Stanković. Following the dissolution of Serbian and Montenegro, the two successor states adopted their own flags. Montenegro continued to use the regional flag they had adopted in 2004. Serbia adopted a new flag using the same colours of the flag of Serbia and Montenegro (with the three coloured bars in a different order) but included the coat of arms of Serbia defaced on it.
Other flags
Rank flags
See also
Coat of arms of Serbia and Montenegro
Coat of arms of Serbia
Coat of arms of Montenegro
Flag of Serbia
Flag of Montenegro
List of Serbian flags
List of flags of Montenegro
References
External links
Serbia and Montenegro
Flags of Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro
1992 establishments in Yugoslavia
2006 disestablishments in Serbia and Montenegro
2006 disestablishments in Serbia
2006 disestablishments in Montenegro
de:Flagge Jugoslawiens#Flagge der Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien und Serbien und Montenegro