Iconographies of European integrations
Résumé
The artwork represents a metalworker chipping away at a star on the European flag. This chapter explores Banksy’s bitter interpretation of the European flag and Macron’s staging of this same flag in a highly symbolic political ritual both participate in the iconographic representation of European (dis)integrations. The EU and the process of European integration are great producers of images of all kinds. The symbols and cultural heritage of Europe were intensively discussed during the European Convention in charge of drafting a constitution for the EU, between 2001 and 2004. In contrast, the euro coins, which have a European and a national side, produce a much more figurative and celebratory iconographic language. European icons are politically efficient and relevant when they are transformed, contested and created by citizens for whom Europe is a political and social reality, to support or to oppose. The combination of the European and Ukrainian symbols was particularly visually harmonious, as they share the same colours.