Fifty years ago | Uniform European passport: colour & symbol stand in the way
This archival piece from 1974 details the diplomatic challenges faced by European nations in creating a uniform passport design. Disagreements over color, symbols, and language highlight the complexities of early European integration efforts.
Why it matters
It provides historical context for the evolution of the European Union and the symbolic hurdles of international cooperation.
Brussels, July 21: The majority reportedly likes a delicate shade of lilac, but the British are a little miffed over that. The French and Germans don’t like the symbols. The others have proposed to go on the cover. And there is the matter of language. Such touchy issues as the colour of the passport, what to stamp on top and the tongues in which to print it keep intervening in the long-time quest for European unity.
Foreign Ministers of the nine Common Market countries have been struggling this week with the problems related to what is called a ‘uniform’ passport. The passport would be issued by each country individually, but would look the same for everybody.
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