In December 1955, when the Council of Europe selected the design for the European flag consisting of twelve yellow stars arranged in a circle on a blue background, it simultaneously rejected over 150 designs that had been submitted since founding of the Council of Europe in 1949. The design drafts came from all over the world; and all the proposals were based on the assumption that European unity was the model for the future, though opinions differed as to which symbols might best unite Europe. The rejected designs for the European flag are published for the first time by the Berlin-based publishing house Wirklichkeit Books.