Jump to content

Flag of the Western European Union

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by SporkBot (talk | contribs) at 06:27, 22 December 2014 (Repair duplicate template args). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Western European Union
UseWar flag and naval ensign Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag
Proportion2:3
Adopted1993
DesignA semicircle of 10 5-pointed gold stars on a blue field with white initials WEU and UEO in the centre.

The flag of the Western European Union (WEU) was dark blue with a semicircle of ten yellow five pointed stars, broken at the top, with the organisation's initials in the centre. Although it is the flag of a military organisation, it has rarely been flown in military situations.

Design

Flag of the Assembly of the Western European Union

The flag is dark blue with a semicircle of ten yellow five pointed stars, broken at the top, with the white letters WEU horizontally across the centre and UEO vertically across the centre sharing the letter E with the former set of initials. UEO is the French abbreviations for Western European Union. The flag's blue colour with yellow stars is taken from the flag of the Council of Europe and European Union, however the number of stars is ten due to the WEU membership being of that number.

Use

The flag was rarely used, with the WEU being largely dormant before it was succeeded by the European Union's (EU) military activities. It was once flown on board an operational United States Navy warship, the USS John Rodgers, when it was used as the flagship of an Italian general (with a WEU crew) commanding WEU relief operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are variants for its bodies, such as its assembly, used on formal occasions.[1] The WEU treaty is now terminated, with WEU activities wound up by June 2011, so no further use of the flag is foreseeable.

Previous designs

  • Reconstruction of the rarely used 1949 version
    Reconstruction of the rarely used 1949 version
  • The 9-star design that was used until 1993.
    The 9-star design that was used until 1993.

The current flag was in use only since 1993. Prior to that there was a similar design but with only nine stars (before Greece became a member) and the stars towards the base of the flag were progressively larger than those at the fringe. This design replaced an older version used since the WEU was founded, which was still dark blue but instead of stars, had five links forming an unbroken chain in the shape of an upside-down pentagon. There was a multicoloured border (red on the outside, gold, black and white) taken from the WEU member states' flags.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.assembly-weu.org/en/presse/articles/2004/WEU29_1LuxWort_E.pdf
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flag_of_the_Western_European_Union&oldid=639149468"