Flag of the Western European Union (until 1993).svg
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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

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 French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
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, , when it was used as the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
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. The WEU treaty is now terminated, with WEU activities wound up by June 2011, so no further use of the flag is foreseeable.


Previous design

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 the flag of the Western Union, the organisation that was transformed into the WEU upon the entry into force of the
Modified Brussels Treaty The Treaty of Brussels, also referred to as the Brussels Pact, was the founding treaty of the Western Union (alliance), Western Union (WU) between 1948 and 1954, when it was amended as the Modified Brussels Treaty (MTB) and served as the foundin ...
.


See also

* Flag of the Western Union * Flag of Europe * Flag of NATO *
Flag of the European Coal and Steel Community The flag of the European Coal and Steel Community was a horizontal bicolour flag defaced with stars which represented the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between 1958 (six years after the ECSC was founded) until 2002 when the Community wa ...
*
Federalist flag The federalist flag, also known as the Flag of the European Movement, is a flag commonly used by groups or individuals promoting European federalism, consisting of a large green "E" upon a white field. It was designed as the flag of the European Mo ...


References


External links


Flag of the Western European Union
Flags of the World.
Discussion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of The Western European Union Western European Union Western European Union Western European Union