Debates on the nature of the European Union (EU) belong to the folklore of European Studies, yet they seem to pose more questions than give definitive answers. Starting from a premise of an existing elite public gap in identity and support for European integration, the goal of this paper is to explore the discourse on the European Union as presented to the European public sphere in the form of political caricature. How is the EU pictured? Are there any recurring stereotypical patterns? Do negative caricatures contribute to the low support of the integration project among the public? Discourse analysis has paid plenty of attention to the EU documentation and public speeches of its representatives, however there has been only little interest in the visual discourse of and on the EU that is being communicated in the media, and thus contributes to the public perceptions of the EU and European integration as such. I will argue that a political cartoon is a quick visual attack aiming at the emotions and values of the reader, using stereotypes and wit to communicate a message about a current problem. Thus, from the beginning, political cartoons carry either a positive or negative image of the EU to the public, hypothetically influencing its identity and support of the EU. The paper will present a comparative study of selected international and Czech print media (weekly and daily paper) with a focus on the ‘debates’ concerning the constitutional process and the Lisbon Treaty.
