The flag of Serbia and Montenegro was originally adopted on 27 April 1992 as the flag of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FR Yugoslavia) and was used as such from 1992 to 2006. After the country was renamed to the

State Union of Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

in February 2003 it remained in use as the national flag until the country's dissolution in June 2006. Aside from a different aspect ratio, it is essentially the same flag as the one once used by the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

(1918–1941). The tricolor without a

red star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

in the centre was inherited from the flag of its direct predecessor state, the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

(1943–1992). It was similar to an inverted

Dutch flag The national flag of the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlandse vlag) is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue. The current design originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-blue '' Prinsenvlag'' ("Prince's Flag"), evolv ...

History

The flag of Serbia and Montenegro had its origins in the

flag of Yugoslavia The flag of Yugoslavia / ; sl, zastava Jugoslavije; mk, знаме на Југославија, translit=zname na Jugoslavija was the official flag of the Yugoslav state from 1918 to 1992. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from the ...

used by the

which was later amended by the

government to display a socialist

. Following the

fall of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

and

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, the remaining republics of Serbia and Montenegro reconstituted the country on 27 April 1992 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and adopted a new flag by removing the socialist red star from the old one. This made Yugoslavia the last country in Europe to remove a red star from its flag. However, due to

United Nations Security Council Resolution 777 United Nations Security Council resolution 777, adopted unanimously on 19 September 1992, after reaffirming Resolution 713 (1992) and all subsequent resolutions on the topic, the Council considered that, as the state known as the Socialist Federa ...

, FR Yugoslavia was not permitted to inherit SFR Yugoslavia's

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

membership. Between 1992 and 2000, the old SFR flag continued to fly outside the

United Nations Headquarters The United Nations is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States, and the complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1951. It is in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neig ...

because the new government of FR Yugoslavia refused to apply for membership over their claims of sole legal

state succession Succession of states is a concept in international relations regarding a successor state that has become a sovereign state over a territory (and populace) that was previously under the sovereignty of another state. The theory has its roots in 19th- ...

being rejected by the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and other successor states of the former SFRY. Following a successful application to membership in the UN in 2000, the old flag was removed and replaced with the Federal Republic flag. The decision to change the flag was controversial with socialist parties in FR Yugoslavia. When it was unveiled,

Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia ( sr, Социјалистичка партија Србије, Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) is a political party in Serbia. It is led by Ivica Dačić. It was founded in 1990 as the direct successor to t ...

councilors in

Tutin Tutin may refer to: Places *Tutin, Serbia, town in Serbia Surname *Arthur Tutin (1907–1961), English footballer *Dorothy Tutin (1930–2001), English actress *Mary Tutin, maiden name of Mary Gillick (1881–1965), English sculptor *Tom Tutin (1 ...

refused to work on the municipal council on the grounds that "the flag of another state is displayed in the offices of the Town Hall". As FR Yugoslavia came under UN sanctions due to ongoing wars, athletes from the country competed as

Independent Olympic Participants at the 1992 Summer Olympics Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

and marched under the neutral

Olympic flag The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags and symbols to elevate the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competition—such as the flame, fanfare and theme—as well as those used throughout ...

, instead of the Yugoslav one. In 2003, when FR Yugoslavia was renamed as Serbia and Montenegro, there were disputes over any new symbols to be used for the state union. It was alleged that the new

Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro The Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Уставна повеља Србије и Црне Горе, ''Ustavna povelja Srbije i Crne Gore'') came into force on 4 February 2003, creating a confederacy between Serbia and Montene ...

prohibited the use of the old Yugoslav symbols until a law on them was brought before the

Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro The Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Скупштина Србије и Црне Горе, Skupština Srbije i Crne Gore) was the legislative body of Serbia and Montenegro (until 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The ...

and one was required to be brought within sixty days of the new Parliament sitting. The flag remained unchanged, however, as reaching any sort of agreement between the two sides upon a logical new flag was difficult; the individual regional flags of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

differed between each other only in the shade of blue being used, while both differed in the order of colors from the Yugoslav one. As predicted, the Serbian and Montenegrin delegations were unable to agree on a new flag so they continued to use the old Yugoslavian flag until the union's dissolution in 2006. Some Serbians and Montenegrins started to reject the flag in favour of the old flag of SFR Yugoslavia due to a sense of nostalgia and due to a feeling of abandonment from the international community. Montenegro did not support the flag continuing to be used to represent them and in 2004, the

Parliament of Montenegro The Parliament of Montenegro ( cg, Скупштина Црне Горе, Skupština Crne Gore) is the unicameral legislature of Montenegro. The Parliament currently has 81 members, with each member elected to a four-year term. Following the 2006 ...

adopted a new flag to replace the flag of Serbia and Montenegro within their republic. However, this remained a regional flag within the union until Montenegrin independence in 2006. During the dispute following the change of name from Yugoslavia to Serbia and Montenegro, the flag was used to represent Serbia and Montenegro in football as

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

allowed the

Serbia and Montenegro national football team The Serbia and Montenegro national football team ( sr, Фудбалска репрезентација Србије и Црне Горе, Fudbalska reprezentacija Srbije i Crne Gore) was a national football team that represented the State Union ...

to continue to use the Yugoslavian flag and their Yugoslavian kits whilst the decision was made. In 2006, shortly after the country's dissolution, the Serbia and Montenegro football team entered the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

for one last time using the flag they had qualified under. Paradoxically, the team was representing a country that no longer existed under a flag that was no longer in use, as both Montenegro and Serbia adopted their own flags upon dissolution and independence.

Post-dissolution

Following Montenegro voting for independence and the union being dissolved by a unanimous vote of the Serbian deputies (as the Montenegrin deputies had boycotted it), the flag was lowered from the Parliament building in Belgrade on 5 June 2006. At the Serbian military headquarters, the flag was ceremonially lowered to "

Hey, Slavs "Hey, Slavs" is a patriotic song dedicated to the Slavs which was used as the national anthem of various countries during the 20th century. Its lyrics were first written in 1834 under the title "Hey, Slovaks" ("Hej, Slováci") by Samo Tomáši ...

", the Serbian and Montenegrin national anthem, overseen by the

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

Zoran Stanković Zoran Stanković ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран Станковић, ; 9 November 1954 – 5 October 2021) was a Serbian major-general and politician. He served as the Minister of Defence in the Government of Serbia and the Council of Ministers of Serbia ...

. Following the dissolution of Serbian and Montenegro, the two successor states adopted their own flags. Montenegro continued to use the regional flag they had adopted in 2004. Serbia adopted a new flag using the same colours of the flag of Serbia and Montenegro (with the three coloured bars in a different order) but included the

coat of arms of Serbia The coat of arms of the Republic of Serbia ( sr, / ) is the coat of arms determined by the Law on the Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Serbia of June 16, 1882. It was officially readopted by the National Assembly in 2004 and later slightly redes ...

defaced on it.

Other flags

Rank flags

References

External links

* {{FOTW, id=cs, title=Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro Flags of Yugoslavia

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...