Last modified: 2002-05-31 by ivan sache
Keywords: europe | western european union | ueo | weu | stars: 4 (yellow) | stars: 9 (yellow) | stars: 10 (yellow) | stars: 12 (yellow) | stars: 8 (yellow) | euromarfor | european maritime force | forza multinazionale di protezione |
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In 1948, the Treaty of Brussels established a military assistance pact between United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. In 1952, the USA proposed the idea of an Eurpean Defence Community integrated to NATO. The project was rejected by the French Parliament in 1954, and the Western European Union was created in 1954 by a new European pact signed in Brussels, allowing the rearming of Federal Republic of Germany and ist integration in WEU (and NATO).
1949 - ?
The flag has a dark blue field bearing five links forming an unbroken chain, in gold [The links form a kind of pentagon, but with the "point" bottommost]. The field has a multi-colored border: red (outside), gold, black, and white [The relative proportions of the border are approx: Red 3, each of the others 1. The total width of the border is approx half that of the depth of the flag.] [...] These colors were taken from the national flags of the member countries, namely, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland [sic] and Luxembourg" [car61]
I don't know when this flag was replaced by the one mentioned
below, but as the WEU was effectively moribund until the end of the
Cold War, it would not surprise me if the members simply forgot there
had ever been one. However, I doubt the old flag would have been
revived if even if they had, as blue and gold, for good or for ill
have become firmly established as the European colors.
Roy Stilling 6 May 1996
? - 1993
![[Western European Union]](../images/e/eur-weu.gif)
by Zeljko
Heimer
The former flag of Western European Union) is very like to European Union's; it has 9 golden stars (for the 9 members listed above, excluding Greece) over a blue field; it also has golden vertical writing UEO (Union de l'Europe Occidentale) crossed with horizontal drawing WEU.
Giuseppe Bottasini
Current flag
The UEO / WEU flag had at first 9 stars, and received a tenth star on 26 October 1993 with the entrance of Greece. The letters are white instead of yellow.
Armand Noël du Payrat, 9 December 1997
The WEU/UEO flag was once flown operationally aboard a US Navy ship. For a brief period in 1995, the destroyer USS John Rodgers functioned as the flagship for the Italian general commanding WEU relief operations in Bosnia. During this time, when no U.S. flag officer was aboard, John Rodgers displayed the WEU flag. Based on the practice used for US Navy ships assigned to NATO standing naval forces, I believe the WEU flag would have been flown from a yardarm.
Joe McMillan, 20 November 2000
In the Quid 1998, the Assembly's flag has 12 stars, while the Council's flag has 10 stars.
Luc-Vartan Baronian, 7 December 1997
Eurofor (European Operational Rapid Force) was created in 1995 as a task force of the Western European Union, being operational June 1998. More information is available in several languages on their website.
A military parade took place in Madrid last Friday on occasion of the Armed Forces' Day. Several European units (French, Italian and Portuguese) took part, marching under their national flags but headed by the Eurofor flag.
The flag was rectangular (probably 2:3), showing on a blue field (regular blue, not the dark blue on the European Union flag) the Eurofor emblem: a red fleur-de-lys on top of a crossed green olive branch and white sword with yellow hilt, surrounded on the top by four yellow stars and over the emblem 'EUROFOR' in white lettering.
![[Coat of arms of Eurofor]](../images/e/eun)eurf.gif)
The coat of arms of Eurofor os shown and explained on the Eurofor website as follows:
"The blue color of the background is a reminiscent of the European flag. The four golden stars represent the four founding nations: France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The sword symbolises military force, the olive branch is a reminder of Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Missions. The waves are an allusion to the maritime environment common to the four Nations. In the center, the flower of Lis, symbol of Florence, the city who hosts the Headquarters of the Force."
Please note that the symbol of Florence is not simply a fleur-de-lys, rather a florentino or fleur-de-lys flowered.
I do not recall at all the three wavy lines appearing on the flag. And the flag showed only the charges on the coat-of-arms, i.e. not the silhouette of the shield.
Santiago Dotor, 17 October 2001
by Ivan Sache
Source: Album des Pavillons ([pay])
The Euromarfor, which depends of WEU, has a flag showing four yellow stars and yellow EUROMARFOR written on a blue field.
Armand Noël du Payrat, 8 December 1997
![[Multinational Protection Force in Albania, 1997]](../images/e/eur^fmp.gif)
by Jan Oskar Engene
The flag of the Multinational Protection Force in Albania has a blue field with stars representing the participating countries in the Alba mission. The stars are yellow, which makes the flag resemble the flag of the Council of Europe and the European Union. The stars are arranged in an arch and under the arch are set the letters FMP in white. FMP is the acronym for the name of the operation in Italian: Forza Multinazionale di Protezione. Italy was the main country involved in the operation. The Flag Bulletin [tfb] ("Flag news and notes", No. 177, Sept-Oct 1997, p. 186-187) gives proportions as approximately 2:3.
The flag was officially hoisted, according to the Albanian Telegraphic Agency, on 16 April 1997. Reuters news agency reported on 8 August 1997 that the
Multinational Protection Force flag was lowered that day in an official ceremony at the MPF base in Rinas. This was in preparation for the withdrawal of the force to be completed by 11 August 1997. Interestingly, Reuters says that ten - not eight - countries participated in the MFP.
Jan Oskar Engene, 18 January 1998
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