page_title: Serbia and Montenegro
section_title: Proposed National Flag and Anthem for the State Union
hierarchical_section_title: Serbia and Montenegro / Proposed National Flag and Anthem for the State Union
context_page_description: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in the Balkans, which came into existence in 1992, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It comprised of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro, the two remaining republics of SFR Yugoslavia. In 2003, FR Yugoslavia was transformed from a federal republic to a political union, and became officially known as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. In 2006, Montenegro seceded from the union, following an independence referendum which narrowly passed, leading to the full independence of Serbia and Montenegro.
  Its aspirations to be the sole legal successor state to SFR Yugoslavia were not recognised by the United Nations, following the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 777, which affirmed that the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia had ceased to exist, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a new state. All former republics were entitled to state succession while neither of them continued SFR Yugoslavia's international legal personality.
context_section_description: After the formation of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Yugoslav tricolour was to be replaced by a new compromise flag. Article 23 of the Law for the implementation of the Constitutional Charter stated that a law specifying the new flag was to be passed within 60 days of the first session of the new joint parliament. Among the flag proposals, the popular choice was a flag with a shade of blue in between the Serbian tricolor and the Montenegrin tricolor of 1993 through 2004. The color shade Pantone 300C was perceived as the best choice. However the parliament failed to vote on the proposal within the legal time-frame and the flag was not adopted. In 2004, Montenegro adopted a radically different flag, as its independence-leaning government sought to distance itself from Serbia. Proposals for a compromise flag were dropped after this and the Union of Serbia and Montenegro never adopted a flag.
  A similar fate befell the country's state anthem and coat-of-arms to be; the above-mentioned Article 23 also stipulated that a law determining the State Union's flag and anthem was to be passed by the end of 2003. The official proposal for a state anthem was a combination piece consisting of one verse of the former (now current) Serbian national anthem "Bože pravde" followed by a verse of the Montenegrin folk song, "Oj, svijetla majska zoro". This proposal was dropped after some public opposition, notably by Serbian Patriarch Pavle. Another legal deadline passed and no state anthem was adopted. Serious proposals for the coat of arms were never put forward, probably because the coat of arms of the FRY, adopted in 1994 combining Serbian and Montenegrin heraldic elements, was considered adequate.
  Thus, the State Union never officially adopted state symbols and continued to use the flag and national anthem of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by inertia until its dissolution in 2006.
caption: Proposed flag for Serbia and Montenegro