Hansard

Flags

Volume 700: debated on Tuesday 22 April 2008

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Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they know what the legal status of the European Union flag is in the United Kingdom and in the rest of the European Union. [HL2903]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(Lord Malloch-Brown)

The EU flag has no legal status in the UK or the rest of the EU.

The EU flag originated on 25 October 1955 when the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly took the unanimous decision to adopt a flag as its emblem. The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers adopted it as the European flag on 8 December 1955. In 1985, the European flag was adopted as the official emblem of the then European Communities by heads of state and government. EU institutions have been using it since 1986.