page_title: Flag of Europe
section_title: 1950–present: Council of Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Flag of Europe / Adoption and usage / Vexillological / 1950–present: Council of Europe
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Villa Schutzenberger, 76 allée de la Robertsau, Strasbourg. Deutsch: Villa Schützenberger, Straßburg.
context_page_description: The flag of Europe or the European flag is an official symbol used by two separate organisations, the Council of Europe as a symbol representing Europe, and the European Union. It consists of a circle of twelve five-pointed stars on a blue field.
  The design was conceived in 1955, and officially adopted later that year by the Council of Europe as a symbol for the whole of Europe. The Council of Europe urged it to be adopted by other European organisations, and in 1985 the European Communities adopted it.
  The EU also inherited the emblem's use when it was formed in 1993, being the successor organisation to the EC starting from 1 December 2009. It has been in wide official use by the EC since the 1990s, but it has never been given official status in any of the EU's treaties. Its adoption as an official symbol of the EU was planned as part of the proposed 2004 European Constitution, which failed to be ratified in 2005.
  The flag is used by different European organisations as well as by unified European sporting teams under the name of Team Europe.
context_section_description: The Council of Europe in 1950 appointed a committee to study the question of adopting a symbol.
  Numerous proposals were looked into.
  Among the unsuccessful proposals was the flag of Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's International Paneuropean Union, which he had himself recently adopted for the European Parliamentary Union.
  The design was a blue field with a red cross inside an orange circle at the centre. 
  Kalergi was very committed to defending the cross as "the great symbol of Europe's moral unity", the Red Cross in particular being "recognized by the whole world, by Christian and non-Christian nations[,] as a symbol of international charity and of the brotherhood of man", but the proposal was rejected by Turkey (a member of the Council of Europe since 1949) on grounds of its religious associations in spite of Kalergi's suggestion of adding a crescent alongside the cross to overcome the Muslim objections.
  Other proposals included the flag was the European Movement, which had a large green E on a white background,
  a design was based on the Olympic rings, eight silver rings on a blue background, rejected due to the rings' similarity with "dial", "chain" and "zeros", or a large yellow star on a blue background, rejected due to its similarity with the so-called Burnet flag and the flag of the Belgian Congo.
  The Consultative Assembly narrowed their choice to two designs. One was by Salvador de Madariaga, the founder of the College of Europe, who suggested a constellation of stars on a blue background (positioned according to capital cities, with a large star for Strasbourg, the seat of the Council). He had circulated his flag round many European capitals and the concept had found favour. 
  The second was a variant by Arsène Heitz, who worked for the Council's postal service and had submitted dozens of designs; the design of his that was accepted by the Assembly was similar to Salvador de Madariaga's, but rather than a constellation, the stars were arranged in a circle. 
  In 1987, Heitz would claim that his inspiration had been the crown of twelve stars of the Woman of the Apocalypse, often found in Marian iconography (see below).
  On 25 September 1953, the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe recommended that a blue flag with fifteen gold stars be adopted as an emblem for the organisation, the number fifteen reflecting the number of states of the Council of Europe. West Germany objected to the fifteen-star design, as one of the members was Saar Protectorate, and to have its own star would imply sovereignty for the region. The Committee of Ministers (the Council's main decision making body) agreed with the Assembly that the flag should be a circle of stars, but opted for a fixed number of twelve stars, "representing perfection and entirety". The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 25 October 1955 agreed to this. Paul M. G. Lévy drew up the exact design of the new flag. Officially adopted on 8 December 1955, the flag was unveiled at the Château de la Muette in Paris on 13 December 1955.
  For the flag of the Council of Europe, many stylistic proposals were made in regards to colours and symbolism. These first proposals were made 19 January 1950 by Paul Levy in a letter to the Secrétarie Géneral. He proposed that the flag should contain a cross for several reasons. Firstly, the cross symbolizes roads crossing, and also represents the east, the west, the north, and the south with its arms. Furthermore, the cross appears in most of the European Council members' flags, and it is the oldest and most noble symbol in Europe. Moreover, the cross depicted christianity. As far as the colours are concerned, he proposed them to be white and green, colours of the European Movement, which was of great significance since 1947. Green also depicted hope, and the green cross over a white background was a design that had not been used yet. Finally, Levy proposed that the arms of Strasbourg was an important element to be added as it represented where the Council would be, and being located in the heart of the cross meant that 
caption: The flag of Europe flown alongside the Flag of France on Villa Schutzenberger, seat of the European Audiovisual Observatory, an institution within the Council of Europe (2011 photograph).
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