Euro crisis

An editorial illustration about the eurozone debt crisis.
The euro symbol as a burden being pulled or dragged

Editorial illustration about the euro crisis and the European monitory system, showing the euro sign as a huge weight.

Cartoon created: 2011

Cartoon reference number: a378

Cartoon about the Euro crisis in Spain.
The bailout of the Spanish bank Bankia – cartoon

Cartoon about the financial crisis in Spain, showing the fact that the bank Bankia needs propping up.

The joke in the cartoon is that the building that houses the headquarters of the Bankia bank is of an unusual architectural design, appearing to lean over dramatically.
The cartoon shows a person taking a photograph of another person who is standing so that in the photo he looks as though he is propping up the tower that is the hq of Bankia. This is a direct reference to what tourists do when they are standing near to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

As well as being a straightforward joke about the leaning tower, the cartoon also has the more serious underlying point in that it asks whether the support given to Bankia will be effective, and whether the effectiveness in holding back the possible collapse of the euro currency will be illusory (shown by the illusion of the man holding up the bank in the photo).
A cartoon about the euro crisis, bank bailouts, struggling economy, banking debt.

Cartoon reference number: a287

Cartoon about the Euro crisis – Greece. Discobolus (Discus Thrower) dropping the euro

Cartoon about the financial crisis in the euro zone, especially in Greece.

Chris Madden cartoon showing the ancient Greek statue or sculpture the Discobolus, or Discus Thrower, by Myron as a metaphor for Greece and the Greek economy, with the discus replaced by a euro coin which the discus thrower has dropped. A pedantic note – the statue of the Discobolus in the cartoon has got the head pointing in the correct direction – most versions of the statue in existence (all are Roman copies of the lost original) are reconstructed from fragments and have the head looking forwards and down, which was found to be incorrect when a nearly complete version was uncovered.
The cartoon is about the possibility of the Greeks dropping the euro.
If Greece drops the euro they will return to the pre-euro Greek currency, the drachma

The dropped euro has cracked the plinth on which the Greek statue stands, and the euro coin is bouncing into a dustbin (which mirrors the shape of the plinth on which the Discobolus stands.
Chris Madden cartoon about the financial crisis in Greece, political cartoon about the eurozone falling apart.

Cartoon reference number: a286

An editorial cartoon responding to the eurozone debt crisis in the period around 2010. A cartoon showing the euro coin as a balloon plunging downwards.
The balloon, being made of metal – like the euro coin – is too heavy to fly, and thus it is plunging downwards.

The idea behind the illustration is that the design of the European currency, the euro, is fundamentally flawed as it didn’t take into account fundamental issues of financial structures within the European community (the eurozone) or politics. This is symbolised by the fact that the balloon is incapable of flying.

The flat euro coin has to be transformed into a sphere for it to become a balloon. The ambiguity of the flat form of the coin and the spherical form of the balloon is a deliberate aspect of the cartoon.
Drawn: 2010

Cartoon reference number: eur13

An editorial illustration about the eurozone debt crisis. A cartoon showing the euro slipping down a slope.

A cartoon showing the euro symbol on a slope (representing a downward graph).

A cartoon about the eurozone debt crisis, the debt in the euro zone.

Cartoon drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: eur331

A cartoon or illustration about the eurozone debt crisis that occurred around 2010.

A cartoon showing the euro symbol as dinosaur bones – implying that the euro may be about to become extinct at some point in the future.

A cartoon about the eurozone debt crisis, the debt in the euro zone.
Drawn: 2010

Cartoon reference number: eur531

Euro cartoon
An editorial illustration or cartoon about the euro crisis

Illustration in the form of a silhouette style image depicting the euro symbol being carried over a rickety bridge. The bridge may or may not collapse, and it’s unclear where it is leading anyway

An editorial cartoon or illustration dealing with the eurozone crisis, the future of the euro, the euro debt crisis, the European community financial crisis

Cartoon drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: euro17

European debt crisis cartoon

An illustration showing the symbol for the European currency, the euro, as the wheelchair on the disabled access sign.
The wheelchair is about to go down a flight of steps that resembles a financial graph

The illustration is about the European community financial crisis, euro crisis, eurozone crisis, the future of the euro, the euro debt crisis

Cartoon drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: euro15

Euro crisis editorial cartoon
Illustration showing the euro currency symbol as the weakest link in a chain

If the euro symbol breaks the chain (symbolising the European community will fall apart.
At the time of drawing, the weakest link was Greece, but the Italian economy was showing signs of unsustainable interest rates creating a debt crisis in Italy

An illustration about the EU debt crisis, European cohesion, European unity, monetary policy, finance, financial interdependence between the nations of Europe.
Drawn: 2011

Cartoon reference number: euro91