1
Symbol
of Europe
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
organizations
themselves, and as a focus for a form of Pan-European identity.
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 organization 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 colors"
of blue and
yellow.
Anthem
In 1971 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe decided to propose adopting the prelude to the Ode To Joy
from Beethoven's 9th Symphony as the European
anthem. The Council of European Ministers officially
announced the
European Anthem on January 19th 1972 at Strasbourg:
the prelude to "The Ode to Joy", 4th movement of Ludwig van
Beethoven's 9th symphony.
The well-known conductor Herbert von Karajan
was asked to write three
instrumental arrangements - for solo piano, for wind instruments and
for
symphony orchestra and he conducted the performance used to make the
official
recording. He wrote his decisions on the score, notably those
concerning the
tempo. Karajan decided on crotchet = 120 whereas Beethoven had written
minim =
80.
The anthem was launched via a major information campaign
on Europe
Day, 5 May
1972. In 1985, it was adopted by EU heads of State and government as
the
official anthem of the then European Community - since 1993 the
European Union.
It is not intended to replace the national anthems of the Member States
but
rather to celebrate the values they all share and their unity in
diversity, it
expresses the ideals of a united Europe:
freedom, peace, and solidarity.
The European anthem is
based on the final movement
of Beethoven's
9th Symphony
composed in 1823, which
contains a modified version of the lyrics of Friedrich Schiller's
ode, An die Freude
(German for Ode To Joy)
written in 1785. This poem expresses Schiller's idealistic vision of
the human
race becoming brothers - a vision Beethoven shared. It is played on
official
occasions by both the Council of Europe and the European Union.
Due to the large number of languages used in the European
Union, the
anthem is purely instrumental and the German lyrics have no official
status.
For the German lyrics refer to the article about the 9th Symphony.
A suggestion for Latin
lyrics to the anthem
has been written by the Austrian composer Peter Roland, but the lyric
has not
been accorded official status, and is not used by the EU. This anthem
was also sung
by the Spanish singer Miguel Ríos,
in 1970.
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
organized
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
the Netherlands and
Denmark,
and May 7
in Norway.
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