(BRUSSELS) - Euro MPs voted Thursday to make the EU flag, anthem and motto "United in diversity" obligatory at the European Parliament and voiced regret they had been cut from the bloc's reforming Lisbon Treaty.

The EU deputies passed the measure by 503 votes to 96 with 15 abstentions.

The new rules stipulate that the EU flag (a circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background) should be displayed at all parliamentary meetings.

Aslo the European hymn (an adaptation of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy") should be played at all "solemn sittings," notably to welcome heads of state or government, and the motto will be reproduced on all official parliamentary documents.

The European parliamentarians also established May 9, the anniversary of a speech in 1950 by Robert Schuman, a founder of the European project, as Europe Day.

The Euro MPs urged European leaders to officially recognise the day "as a real European public holiday" arguing that this would be the only way that "its deeper signifiance will... truly take root in the emotional memory of European citizens."

The European symbols were enshrined in the EU's original Constitution project which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

During negotiations last year on the constitution's successor, the Lisbon Treaty, the 27 EU member states decided to avoid reference to what eurosceptics see as symbols of state for the EU.

The Lisbon Treaty is itself currently blocked after Irish voters rejected it at a referendum last June.

The EU symbols were among the "collateral victims" as the member states attempted to make the Lisbon treaty more palatable to the doubters, the MEPs noted.

By taking the symbolic measures the parliament wants to send "a clear political message to European citizens," the text said.

That message is that "the symbols of the Union are important and their use is worthwhile at all levels... because they represent the values that inspire the Union's existence, they unite all those who live and work within its borders, and they identify it in the world as a benchmark for freedom, development and solidarity."

However, not everyone in the parliament was happy at the moves, including UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) MEP Trevor Colman.

"We don't even have a holiday for (England's) St. George's day," he complained.

"And now we are supposed to have a special day for Europe."

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