In the week prior to the EU summit, which should lead to agreement on a treaty that will take the place of the Nice Treaty, Malta, together with 15 other EU member States, has signed a declaration of loyalty to the EU symbols – the flag, the EU anthem Ode to Joy, the euro as the European currency and Europe Day on 9 May, the French website Publius.fr reported.

The governments of Poland and the Czech Republic have demanded that the EU symbols do not form part of the new Treaty.

The symbols were clearly outlined in the Constitutional Treaty that was rejected by the electorates of France and Holland and the fact that the two new entrants – Poland and the Czech Republic – did not want any mention of them in the new treaty is indicative of how many peoples in Europe perceive the EU.

But now 16 EU member States – Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, together with Malta – have signed a declaration that will be attached to the Treaty affirming their loyalty to the EU symbols.

One notable exception, apart from the mainly Euro sceptic countries such as Denmark and the UK, is France under President Nicolas Sarkozy.