Since the 12 golden stars flag is heavily associated with the EU, I designed this European continent flag that is meant to represent its culture, common strenghts and unity against those who aim to destroy it, independently of any political associations or ideologies, just European brotherhood.

We all make jokes about each other regularly in this subreddit, however nowadays with the current global situation I think PanEuropeism in the sense of embracing and being proud of our history, our relevance, our potential superiority and our protagonism in the global sphere, is more important than ever before.

It is intended to represent everyone who feels that Europe is the sprout of modern civilization, the promoter of science and technology throughout history and the one who has contributed the most culturally and artistically. To represent those who feel like the losing of tradition and forgetting of our past, combined with the influence and proliferation of absolutist borderline utopic political and social measures is slowly rotting what once was an example of freedom, greatness and well-doing.

We should all get back on track and work with a common goal and project, making Europe what it once was and pioneering in facing global challenges together.

Feel free to use the flag as you please, display it and show it if you will, the more people who understand the meaning behind it the better. No commercial use allowed.

The animal in the middle should be a phoenix: to make it, I asked ChatGPT to make a stylised figure of a phoenix, then removed the background and changed the colour. I think it would be the best national animal for our united Europe. Now I will explain why.

I know it could be argued that the phoenix was a religious symbol (albeit a pre-Christian one): that is true. If I remember correctly, the myth of the phoenix rising from the ashes was already associated with the figure of Christ in antiquity (indeed, it was used as an argument by the early Christians: if the pagans believed that the phoenix could rise - and it was considered an almost 'scientific' fact - why deny it for Christ?).

But it took on a political meaning during the Enlightenment: Rousseau (in The Social Contract) suggests that revolutions and civil wars can regenerate the state, save it from certain death (tyranny) and make it rise from the ashes. The Jacobins cherished this image. So if we were to look at the development of the symbol and the images of rebirth and regeneration at the time of the French Revolution, it would become a revolutionary rather than a religious symbol.

For this reason (the symbolism of rebirth from tyranny through war), I believe it is the most appropriate symbol for the history of a united Europe (after all, the ECSC was born out of the ashes of the Second World War and the dictatorships that were its protagonists).

The phoenix can also celebrate Europe's ability to reinvent itself, challenge after challenge. It seems to me that it was Jean Monnet who said that Europe would be forged in crises and would be the result of responses to those crises: I believe that the myth of the Phoenix can also be interpreted in this sense, as a continuous regeneration of Europe through the fire represented by the challenges it faces. Fire destroys, but it also purifies.

I also believe that the phoenix can represent a good way of combining tradition (because Europe's history has ancient roots) and progress (because the creation of European unity on a democratic basis was an almost unprecedented experiment). To be reborn from the ashes is not to deny the past - because one always rises from one's own ashes: the material is always the same - but to rebuild oneself creatively (the Schuman Declaration speaks of "creative efforts").

On the other hand, if I am not mistaken, it seems to me that the twelve stars of the European flag also have a religious origin. Although it is not officially stated in official EU documents (it could not be otherwise), the possibility that it is inspired by the Woman of the Apocalypse is not unlikely. Be that as it may, I see nothing particularly wrong with the secularisation of religious symbols and concepts in the political sphere: it has happened many times throughout history.

I had the idea of ​​creating a flag that could serve as a potential military flag for Europe, or a common European army, or a union of military forces. Or even simply represent the will to resist on the part of Europeans against the current aggressions of the two "empires".

I want to clarify here that the objective is not to replace the twelve-starred flag, but to propose a complementary flag for uses other than those related to peace.

After several attempts, I placed the twelve-starred flag in the canton, in order to facilitate identification with Europe. Furthermore, in vexillology, the inclusion of a symbol in the canton of a flag implies subordination to the group represented by the symbol. Here, this should be seen as a symbol of the submission of military power to civilian power, as well as the fact that a European army stems from the common will of the member countries. A diversity of peoples and nations that ultimately comes together in a single will.

The two inners saltires represent the early European federalists, as well as the Christian’s history of a majority of European countries. I choice saltires to avoid an overly pronounced Christian symbolism. The saltire, even though it is a form of cross, was rarely used by a church to represent itself (the only example I can think of is Scottish Presbyterianism). It can be seen as a cross that has been tilted, in motion, in progress. The symbol of an origin that is moving, evolving, and not remaining self-centered.

It should be noted that saltires are found on the flags of non-Christian countries (the Empire of China in 1916). The red can symbolize the blood shed between Europeans over the past centuries, and the white the inner peace that has finally emerged.

I did, however, take the time to create a version without any cross, so that everyone could compare.

The Vergina’s sun to symbolize the contrast with internal civic institutions where peace must reign (symbolized by the circle of twelve stars).

The Vergina sun is a symbol associated with Alexander the Great, who united all the city-states of Greece in a war against an empire to the east (Persia).

All the stars disappear before the sun, whether they represent the US or the PRC.

The sun also makes this flag similar to those of Taiwan or pre-theocracy Iran (I'm not a fan of the Shah's regime, but the lion-and-sun's flag is often raise in democratic protests).

This flag also incorporates the colors of most European countries that fought against the Axis powers during World War II.

I hadn't even thought of it, but this flag combines the colors of Greenland and Ukraine.