I was very afraid that the themes would have been heavily skewed towards things like landmarks, famous people and events, which would plunge the subsequent discussions about the designs into a cesspit of nationalist in-fighting, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by the presence of a number of more sensible options. Not necessarily good, but sensible at least.

I like the “hands” theme quite a lot, but it might come out a little bad on the graphical side if not well thought out. Still, hands and their symbolism has been present for centuries in Europe to depict values and moral concepts, both religious and secular, I think it could be the best idea to represent abstract European values. I bet that people will just choose the “pretty” option though, so I expect birds, also because it can once again be tied to nationalism.