Wasn there a European Union flag with 15 stars? Why does the EU flag have only twelve stars when the Council of Europe, whose flag was adopted by the EU, began with 15 members in 1953?
The flag of the Council of Europe, which was indeed later adopted by the EU, the European Movement, and other groups as a sign of pan-Europeanism, has always had 12 stars. The number of stars does not change, no matter how many member nations join. A British pro-European group once published a pamphlet explaining that the original proposal before the Council of Europe had 15 stars, one for each member. Germany objected, however, as one of the stars would then have represented the Saarland, a separate member of the Council but a region over which Germany claimed sovereignty. This left 14 stars, a number to which France objected precisely because it implied German sovereignty over the Saarland. The Council rejected 13 stars for reasons of superstition, and eventually settled on twelve. E. Identification of Flags Based on Description We receive questions on many flags based on their description. If your question roughly resembles “What flag is that?”, you may wish to browse through the fo
