Presidency logos, a retrospective (now updated with new logos!)

The product of the finest consultancies, art schools and messy governmental compromises within national governments – each and every Presidency of the Council of the European Union feels it needs its own logo. So to mark the release of the French logo for 2008, here’s a retrospective of logos past…

• Sweden 2001 – simple stars in the Swedish and EU colours. My score: 3/5
• Belgium 2001 – a Magritte hat, and the .be font is used on Belgian government branding to this day. 4/5
• Spain 2002 – Spanish colours, vaguely in star shapes. Looks somehow modern. 3/5
• Denmark 2002 – smart colours, and the logo fitted a sober and smart Presidency. 4/5
• Greece 2003 – innocent and inoffensive. 2/5
• Italy 2003 – what’s going on here? The E is also facing backwards, symbolic for Berlusconi messing up the Constitution IGC during this Presidency. 1/5
• Ireland 2004 – harp is a bit overdone as the Irish symbol, and pastel shades are weak. 2/5
• Netherlands 2004 – the clever EU-NL thing in the logo could not make up for the coarse juxtaposition of colours and blocky fonts for this Presidency. 2/5
• Luxembourg 2005 – another attempt to be clever with the eu/lu in the logo. Less tough on the eye than the Dutch efforts. 3/5
• UK 2005 – nice idea, birds flying in tandem to show teamwork. Problem is that birds poo on your head, and bird flu hit during the Presidency, prompting this spoof logo. 2/5
• Austria 2006 – the hope was that bringing in Rem Koolhas to design a logo would give the Presidency a bit of a boost. I’m unconvinced. 3/5
• Finland 2006 – a story of ‘the green of a burgeoning forest, the sweep of the horizon and the blue of water shimmering in the sun’ according to the Presidency website. Smart and sober. 4/5
• Germany 2007 – hand drawn letters to make the EU seem less harsh, but the logo itself is a disappointment. It did appear on some pleasant umbrellas that you still see around Brussels. 2/5
• Portugal 2007 – an aesthetically pleasing effort, but what does this say about the EU as a series of overlapping cooperations? Beware the political implications of logos. 3/5
• Slovenia 2008 – contains the obligatory Triglav, and there’s a twee story about fire, earth, water, air and ether on the Presidency website. But don’t think too long about the logo. 2/5
• France 2008 – has caused some consternation because the EU flag is larger than the French flag (although I’m OK with that) but the logo is smart and contemporary. 3/5

Yes, OK, before anyone mentions it in the comments: I do wonder about the merits of spending cash on these logos. But when a country has the Presidency, especially if it’s a small country, a degree of national pride ensures to make sure everything runs smoothly, and the branding is a part of that.

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UPDATE 1.1.2014: Following a debate on Twitter, I have now updated this post with all the newer logos!