Country profile: Moldova

Blue, yellow and red, which Moldova shares with Romania, appeared in the region in the 19th century. At the end of the 1980s, the Moldovan national movement took them up against the flag of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Parliament adopted the tricolour on 27 April 1990 and added the country's coat of arms to it later that year. Moldova declared its independence on 27 August 1991.

The coat of arms shows an eagle holding an Orthodox cross in its beak, a sceptre and an olive branch in its talons, and bearing on its breast a shield with an aurochs' head.

According to a widespread interpretation, which has no official status, the elements of the Moldovan flag read as follows:

• Blue: the past and democracy.
• Yellow: the present and tradition.
• Red: the future and brotherhood.
• Aurochs' head: the emblem of the former Principality of Moldavia in the Middle Ages.

According to legend, the Principality of Moldavia was founded in the 14th century by the voivode Dragoș, who had pursued an aurochs to the bank of a river: the animal's head has remained the country's emblem.

The Moldovan flag is almost identical to that of Romania; only the coat of arms on the yellow stripe tells them apart.

It also resembles that of Andorra, which combines the same colours with its own coat of arms in the centre.