This article was first published on the Online EU Training blog

Cartoons are an excellent way to shrink a large piece of wisdom into a small piece of image.

It shows self-confidence and maturity when a person, an organisation or country is able to laugh at itself. That’s why dictators in Africa, Asia or even Eastern Europe are so furious about expressions of funny drawings. On the other hand, being shown in a cartoon shows that the public opinion cares about what they do.

So why are there so few caricatures about Europe, the European Union or the EU institutions? It’s certainly not due to the lack of freedom in Europe. It must be the lack of interest.

Unfortunately, it seems that Europeans and the global audience shows little enthousiasm for the workings of the EU. If they did, probably it would appear far more often as a topic for talented artists showing a mirror to European Commission or European Parliament officials and decisions.

Sure, when the Danish cartoons caused global upheavals or politically sensitive issues such as EU-Iran relations, Middle East policies or Turkey’s accession to the European Union are on the table, cartoonists get to work. This is good news for Europe and good news for Brussels: it shows that the EU matters.

So the conclusion is: the more they try to laugh about you, the more important you are

(Image source: Esharp! magazine)

As a related issue and an inspiration for this blog post, check out the following cool cartoons and the TED presentation by caricaturist Patrick Chappatte:

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