The European Parliament is considering flying the EU flag and playing the EU anthem more often in its own buildings as part of a political message to member states who have scrapped the union’s symbols from the proposed new EU treaty.

The parliament on Wednesday (11 July) adopted its opinion on the EU’s reform treaty which was agreed by EU leaders last month and which will be subject to detailed negotiations in a so-called Inter Governmental Conference (IGC) in the coming months.

In Wednesday’s opinion, MEPs welcomed the fact that the reform treaty blueprint “safeguards much of the substance” of the original EU constitution, which was rejected in popular referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

But the EU assembly also “regrets” drafting changes in the new style treaty. It has been stripped of all constitutional elements while explicitly suggesting EU’s powers can be limited and handed back to member states. It also gives the UK a special opt-out from the EU’s charter of fundamental rights.

MEPs are particularly irked about the disappearance from the treaty text of the EU’s 12 star flag and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – which were given official status as EU symbols in the failed EU constitution.

In a bid to defy member states on the symbolic issue, the parliament says in its opinion that it intends to give “official character” to the EU’s flag and anthem in its own internal rulebooks. Some senior MEPs eye a more frequent use of the unions symbols in official ceremonies in the parliament itself.

German social democrat MEP Jo Leinen, who drafted the report, told EUobserver “so far the anthem is not being officially used in the parliament – at least I rarely heard it in the seven years I’ve been here.”