BRUSSELS (AP) -- It adorns car license plates in some of the 12 European Union nations and greets travelers at border points from Athens to Amsterdam to the Azores.


But 40 years after it was created, the European flag and its 12 gold stars on a field of blue remains a source of confusion.


Contrary to popular belief, its stars do not represent the current 12 members of the European Union.


So when Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU on Jan. 1, not a single star will be added to the European flag.


The European flag was designed after a five-year squabble, starting in 1950.


Bureaucrats studied more than 100 designs sent in by artists, heraldry experts and Euro-enthusiasts.


In 1953, a circle of stars was put on a short-list by the Council of Europe, the first postwar organization for European integration. Two more years were needed to pick a blue background.


The Council of Europe had 15 members in 1955, but Germany vetoed 15 stars since one was for the Saarland region, then under French rule. It wanted 14 stars but France disagreed because it excluded the Saarland, which did not rejoin Germany until 1957.


No one liked the superstitious number of 13. But 12 was found to hold great Judeo-Christian symbolism through the 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles. Also, in Greek mythology, Hercules performed 12 labors to gain immortality.


By 1957, the Council of Europe had 25 members. The more powerful EU, founded that year by six nations, has since grown to 12 and will have 15 members on Jan. 1. A dozen more are waiting in the wings.


The difficulty in picking a European flag was not an isolated bout of ambivalence over Euro-symbols. The Council of Europe spent eight years selecting a European anthem. In 1972, it picked "Ode to Joy'' from Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which has since also been adopted by the EU.


In the 1980s, the EU spent seven years arguing over the color of the European passport, eventually picking "Bishop Red.'' The European nations have had troubles choosing a common holiday so now there are two: May 5 and May 9.


The Council of Europe uses the former because on that date in 1949 Sir Winston Churchill, the British statesman, declared in a speech in Zurich, Switzerland, "We must build a United States of Europe.''


The EU calls May 9 Robert Schuman Day in honor of the French statesman who was a key founder of the union.