Prodi flags up new EU symbol clash

A call for European Olympic medal winners to fly the EU flag alongside national banners has sparked a Brussels “meddles” row.

Romano Prodi, while congratulating Greece for its organisation of the 2004 games, set out his idea for a more euro-Olympic vision.

The Brussels chief, who steps down in October, on Monday highlighted his “dream to see the EU member states perform… in an even more united fashion at the next Olympic Games”.

“In 2008 I hope to see the EU member state teams in Beijing carry the flag of the European Union alongside their own national flag as a symbol of our unity,” he said.

But his call has fanned the eternal flame of UK euroscepticism and generated raging headlines in the British tabloid press.

“They just don’t get it in Brussels, do they?,” asked the Sun newspaper.

“They can’t understand the importance of national identity. When it comes to sport — and so many other things — we’re not all on the same side and never will be.”

UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett has attacked the latest “untrue” euro-myth.

“The idea of carrying a European flag alongside a national flag is just that, an idea not a decision and not even a formal proposal,” he said on Tuesday.

Corbett argues that Prodi’s proposal is “not nearly as radical as it sounds”.

“We already compete in international events at a number of levels. In football and rugby we compete as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but as Great Britain in the Olympics, just as our British golfers compete for Europe in the Ryder Cup,” he said.

“Using different flags for different levels of identity should be no real drama.”

Under a new constitution the EU flag is to be given European treaty status as a symbol for the European Union.

The flag's 12 gold stars – in heraldic terms “twelve mullets in annulo Or” - symbolise completeness - as in 12 hours of a clock, 12 months in the year, 12 tables of Roman law.

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