Romania Flag

How to identify it

Three equal vertical bands of blue, yellow and red, with blue next to the flagpole and no emblem. Chad uses a darker blue in the first band.

Design and construction

Proportions

2:3

Adoption and legal status

27 December 1989, when the socialist arms were removed

Construction

Law 75/1994 sets the 2:3 proportion and three equal bands with blue next to the flagpole. Until 2023 the law named the pigments cobalt blue, chrome yellow and vermilion red; the 2023 revision replaced those with exact Pantone, CMYK and RGB values (blue Pantone 280c, #002B7F).

Officially documented meaning

The constitution and Law 75/1994 fix the colours and their order but state no symbolism.

Commonly repeated interpretation

Not official: Blue for liberty, yellow for justice and red for fraternity is the usual explanation, as is the reading of the three colours as the historic principalities. Sources disagree on both.

History of the design

Romanian tricolours date from 1834 and the vertical arrangement from 1866. Communist-era versions carried a central emblem. Protesters cut that emblem from flags in December 1989, creating the widely photographed flag with a hole.

Similar flags

Compare the details that separate these designs.

• 
  Chad

  Chad's blue band is darker than Romania's. Their band order and proportions are otherwise the same.

• 
  Moldova

  Moldova adds an aurochs-head coat of arms on the yellow band.

Comparison guides

• Romania vs Chad: two blue-yellow-red tricolours

Sources