Paneuropa Union

Last modified: 2003-01-18 by ivan sache
Keywords: europe | paneuropa union | international organization | stars: 12 (yellow) | cross (red) |
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by Zeljko Heimer & António Martins

• Description of the flag
• Origin of the Paneuropa Union
• Variant of the flag
• Former flag

See also:

• European Union
• European organizations and movements
• International organizations

Description of the flag

A flag seen on the main square in Zagreb, in the house of Croatian Council of European Movement (an organization that is promoting the European idea). The flag is similar to the European Union flag with the yellow disc between the stars with a red cross on it.

Zeljko Heimer, 1 May 1996

Origin of the Paneuropa Union

The Paneuropa Union is currently headed by Otto Habsburg and was founded in 1923 by Richard Nikolaus Count Coudenhove-Kalergi. It is credited with some influence over the creation of what is now the European Union. Paneuropa is, unsurprisingly, more active in Austria and the former Austro-Hungarian states. It is very anti-Communist and Christian Democratic in political orientation, with a strong Catholic influence. The famous 1989 'picnic' on the Austrian/Hungarian border was organized by Paneuropa.

Stuart A. Notholt, 3 May 1996 & Dieter Linder, 12 July 1998

Cross is the symbol of christianty and sun symbolizes the European civilization enlighting the world. After the Second World War, the flag was used by the European Parliamentary Union.

Source: Carole Lager : Le drapeau européen, histoire et symbolisme pp. 126-129 in "Fahnen, Flags, Drapeaux", Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Vexillology, Zurich, 23-27 August 1993 ([icv93])

Ivan Sache, 6 January 2000

Variant of the flag

by Ivan Sache

Source: A colour plate originally published by P.M.G. Lévy and P. Martin , as "Un drapeau pour l'Europe" in Saisons d'Alsace, 1950, #3, showing proposals for the European flag. Reproduced in Fahnen, Flags, Drapeaux (Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Vexillology, Zurich, 23-27 August 1993) ([icv93]),to illustrate the paper by Carole Lager entitled "Le drapeau européen, histoire et symbolisme".

Ivan Sache, 6 January 2000

Former flag

by Dieter Linder & António Martins

In the center of a light blue field a yellow disk with a narrow red cross throughout. Ratio 1:2.

Source: Volker Junge, Eine Flagge für Europa, Kleeblatt [klb] 3/1987.

Dieter Linder, 12 July 1998

According to Crampton, the Paneuropa Movement carried a flag with a blue field bearing a yellow disc with a red cross in the middle before the start of Second World War. When the Council of Europe formed in 1948, it adopted this flag for its own organization without changes, but it changed to the current design in 1953 to accommodate its newest member, Turkey.

Steve Kramer & Roy Stilling, 1 May 1996

This flag consists of "the red cross of humanitarian compassion against the golden sun of enlightenment in a field azure - the blue sky as a symbol of untroubled peace".

Peter Diem, 11 June 2002