There are many ways to share the Christmas spirit. Some lobbyists send out boxes of deluxe chocolates. Some employers hand out champagne. For politicians and those who work with them, the simplest and least controversial way to wish everyone a happy holiday is still the Christmas card.
Increasingly digital, and frequently bemusing or amusing, POLITICO brings you the most eye-catching Christmas messages we’ve come across in Brussels this holiday season.
Most geographically-challenged card
The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s Africa, Middle East and Europe office sent out a Christmas card that was covered in … snow. They are based in Paris, which currently looks like this. And possibly the only snow in either the Middle East or Africa is here in this artificial snow slope in Dubai.
Most creative EU card
German MEP Bernd Lange isn’t afraid to admit the EU has experienced some stormy weather. But he’s optimistic — amidst the TTIP shark, a nationalist sawfish and a Chinese dragon — that Santa and his trusty reindeer will steer the MS Europe back to a safe harbor: “Santa knows the port of call, a better Europe for us all.”
All Parliament wants for Christmas is to put Strasbourg in a snow globe
In a festive twist on the majority of Members of the European Parliament’s standard wish to shut Strasbourg down, this MEP has settled for putting it in a snow globe instead. Points for the multilingual good wishes, though.
Best imaginary industry-related superhero card
EURIMA, the European Insulation Manufacturers Association, believes in the power of insulation as a solution to “Europe’s energy trilemma.” That’s why it unleashed “the power of mineral wool insulation!” We’re hoping he can explain an “envelope first approach” too.
The Ouch! Award
CECIMO is all about machinery tools. Presumably one of them made this brutalist Christmas tree. Well, at least that’s what it appear to be. It could certainly be dangerous if put to other uses!
Most volatile Christmas message
Italian MEP Michela Giuffrida is based next to Mount Etna in Sicily, and her Christmas card is positively explosive.
Art Direction Award
Jeremy Corbyn, the new left-wing leader of the U.K. Labour Party, the country’s official opposition party, attracts controversy wherever he goes. Some newspapers ridiculed his Christmas card as typical of Corbyn’s cyclist vegetarian world view. POLITICO found it to be among the most beautiful in circulation this year.
Best charity-themed card
Johnson & Johnson made many EU-watchers smile with this card about their efforts to spread treatment for cleft lip and palate to children whose families can’t afford it.
Funniest Christmas meme
Artist Ai WeiWei in a manger is the stand-out performer.
Most complicated card
Konica Minolta Europe wants you to download a smartphone app in order to “let it snow.” We say no.
Most subliminal card
What else would you put on a central bankers’ Christmas card except magic money trees and a rabbit/bear allegory?
Most bizarre Christmas card
European Alternatives is an NGO that believes that Europe’s problems cannot be solved by individual nation states. It also seems to believe in Christmas cards as campaigns; ones that feature children standing confused in front of futuristic maps of a borderless European continent.
Best ensemble cast
The U.K. Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee put down their politcal swords and picked up their Star Wars light sabers for this amusing effort.
The Hunger Games
It’s a gourmet Christmas in the office of Polish MEP Bogusław Liberadzki , complete with peanuts, gingerbread, sugared orange and cinnamon.
The Sky’s the Limit award
POLITICO28 member Antanas Guoga has launched a red rocket complete with an animated tail flame.
Best beard award
The self-deprecating political Santa of the year is British MEP Nirj Deva.
Never miss a chance to advertise
Law firm Cadwalader has gone to great lengths to tell us that “the holidays give us a chance to reflect on what matters.” (The video lasts a whole minute — you’ve been warned.)