Europe's holiday makers are hitting the roads, this summer, with more or less uniform number plates, after a 12 year debate over their design and colour schemes. Belgium finally settled a political argument over the tags in June, removing the last obstacle to introducing the new plates in all 27 European countries.
However, "uniform" is a relative term in Europe, where there are dozens of languages and so ways to even say "number plate". There are already exceptions to the suggested EU standard of black lettering on white background and a European flag on the left. British drivers, of course, being allowed to opt out altogether.
Drivers still show their nationalities on the EU number plates, with a country code placed within the ring of gold stars on the EU flag, or just below it: D for Germany, NL for Netherlands, S for Sweden, E for Spain and so on.
Issuing nations may also allow local or regional symbols.
For motorcycles, there is a square EU-style tag.
American style number plate slogans would probably go against the rules, but
one option might have been "In Varietate Concordia" ("United in Diversity"), the EU motto that is available in Latin and the union's 23 languages, no one opted to take this up, though.
EU officials first recommended uniform black on white plates back in 1998, as they would be more readable and embody the union's single market. The European number plates would also help cameras spot speeders, tax dodgers and vehicles jumping through electronic toll booths in a continent with largely open borders.
Most EU members, and even some non members like Norway, now make EU plates mandatory.
In places like Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, Denmark and Britain however, the number plates are available but optional. In Britain, drivers are entitled to replace the EU flag with those of either England, Scotland or Wales.
Paul Watters, head of public policy at Britain's Automobile Association, said few UK motorists choose the EU flag.
"The government has allowed us to have the freedom to choose to display national flags," he said. "We wouldn't want to see the EU flag become compulsory in the U.K."
France began issuing the EU tag in 2009 and also tried to drop traditional regional indicators, to avoid stigmatizing drivers from less fashionable areas.
Parisian cars mostly carried the number 75, while 93 is the indicator for nearby Seine-Saint-Denis, a Parisian suburb with a large immigrant population.
Richard Mallie from the French "departement" of Bouches du Rhone (regional indicator 13) and 230 other French lawmakers rebelled, insisting the departement number was "a matter of roots, of attachment to an area."
They won the day which means French drivers can now pick any department number they like. Mallie says 75 percent still opt for their departement of residence.
In Belgium, the most ardent proponent of European number plate unification and home to the EU headquarters in Brussels, the EU tag started two years of debate between Dutch and French speaking politicians. The French speakers rejected black on yellow tags as they are the colors of Belgium's Dutch speaking north. Neither side where interested in black on white.
In June, Belgium decided its HGV's would adopt the EU plates, but passenger vehicles could have dark red letters instead of black.
Denmark opted for a black on white EU plate but included a red boarder around it, hinting at its red and white flag.
Europe's shift to standard number plates may sound innocent enough but it is an emotive point.
In the 1990s, EU officials sensed a backlash to what former British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd called a "European superstate inveigling its way into every nook and cranny of Europeans' lives." That backlash would be blamed in 2005 for the death of the EU constitution.
Reg
