How the EU flag emoji works
Country flag emoji are pairs of regional indicator letters, and 🇪🇺 is the pair E + U (U+1F1EA U+1F1FA). “EU” isn’t a country, but the ISO 3166 standard keeps it as an “exceptionally reserved” code, and Unicode made a flag for it in Emoji 2.0 in 2015. Its neighbour 🇺🇳 (U+1F1FA U+1F1F3, the United Nations flag) works the same way.
On Windows you’ll see plain letters, EU, because Windows has no flag images in its emoji font. Nothing is wrong with what you copied: it turns into the blue flag as soon as it is pasted on an iPhone, an Android phone, a Mac or in WhatsApp.
Do the 12 stars stand for member countries?
No, and that is the most common myth about this flag. The circle of 12 gold stars on blue stands for unity, solidarity and harmony among the peoples of Europe, and twelve was chosen as a symbol of completeness. The number never changes. The EU has had 27 members since the United Kingdom left in 2020. The flag was designed for the Council of Europe, which adopted it in 1955, and the European Communities (today’s EU) took it up in the mid-1980s.
Copy all 27 member-state flags at once
The “All 27 member flags” button above copies every EU country flag in alphabetical order: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Need just a few? The multi-flag copy picker has a Europe filter and lets you build any list.
Europe Day and other occasions
Europe Day on 9 May marks the 1950 Schuman Declaration, the proposal that led to today’s European Union. People also reach for 🇪🇺 around European Parliament elections, Erasmus exchanges, travel posts and Eurovision, though Eurovision is run by broadcasters, not the EU. The EU motto is “United in diversity”, In varietate concordia in Latin.
Shortcodes
Discord uses :flag_eu:, Slack :flag-eu:, and GitHub :eu: or :european_union:. On a phone, search “European Union” or “EU” in the emoji keyboard.
EU flag emoji codes
| Unicode name | flag: European Union |
| Code points (2) | U+1F1EA U+1F1FA |
| Emoji version | Emoji 2.0 (2015) |
| HTML hex | 🇪🇺 |
| HTML decimal | 🇪🇺 |
| UTF-8 bytes (8) | F0 9F 87 AA F0 9F 87 BA |
| URL encoded | %F0%9F%87%AA%F0%9F%87%BA |
| JavaScript (ES6) | \u{1F1EA}\u{1F1FA} |
| JSON / Java / C# (UTF-16, 4 units) | \uD83C\uDDEA\uD83C\uDDFA |
| Python | \U0001F1EA\U0001F1FA |
| CSS content | "\1F1EA \1F1FA" |
| Shortcodes | :flag_eu: (Discord), :flag-eu: (Slack), :eu: (GitHub) |
EU flag emoji FAQ
Why does the EU flag emoji show as the letters EU?
The EU flag emoji is made of two regional indicator letters, E and U. Windows doesn’t have flag images in its emoji font, so it shows the letters instead. The same text shows as the blue flag with gold stars on phones, Macs and in WhatsApp.
Do the stars on the EU flag represent the member countries?
No. The 12 gold stars symbolise unity, solidarity and harmony. The number is fixed and doesn’t change when countries join or leave. The EU currently has 27 member states.
How do I copy all EU country flags at once?
Tap “All 27 member flags” on this page. It copies all 27 member-state flag emoji in alphabetical order, ready to paste.
What is the code for the EU flag emoji?
The EU flag emoji is U+1F1EA U+1F1FA. In HTML that is 🇪🇺. On Discord type :flag_eu:, and on Slack type :flag-eu:.
More flags: copy any of 270 flag emoji in the multi-flag copy picker, test yourself with the Guess the Flag quiz, or print classroom flags from our free printable world flags.
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