Malta · 30 years of the European flag

The anniversary does not refer to the original creation of the European flag, but to its adoption by the then European Communities in 1985. The flag had already been designed and introduced for the Council of Europe (Europarat), an international organisation independent of the European Union. Its Committee of Ministers adopted the blue field with the circle of twelve golden stars as its emblem in 1955.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the European Parliament proposed using this symbol for the European Communities as well. The heads of state and government approved this in 1985. From 1986 onwards, the flag was used by the Community institutions; with the later creation of the European Union, it entered general use as an EU symbol. The anniversary year 2015 thus marked three decades since this political decision.

The number of stars does not correspond to the number of member states. Twelve was intended as a fixed symbolic number representing unity and completeness. The circle of stars therefore remained unchanged during the various enlargements. The circle refers to the connection between the European states without abolishing their independence.

Malta joined the European Union in 2004 and introduced the euro in 2008. Its issue formed part of a common commemorative coin series of the countries of the euro area. Unlike ordinary €2 commemorative coins, whose national sides show different themes, the participating countries used the same basic design and each supplemented it with its country name.

The design was determined in a two-stage process. Following a competition among European mints, a panel of experts selected five designs. Citizens and residents of the euro area were able to vote on them online. The coin therefore commemorated not only the introduction of a European symbol; its design was also organised as a joint, cross-border project. For Malta, the issue combined its own national coinage authority with its membership of the euro area.