Germany

Commemorative coin

2009

10 years of economic and monetary union (EMU)

(Part of the joint issue " 10 years of economic and monetary union (EMU) ")

Official Journal of the European Union

To celebrate ten years of economic and monetary union and the creation of the euro on 1 January 1999, Eurogroup Ministers decided that euro-area Member States would strike a 2-euro commemorative coin using a common design on the national side. Citizens and residents of the European Union were invited to vote on-line to select this common national design. They choose the design created by Mr G. Stamatopoulos, sculptor at the Minting Department of the Greek Central Bank. Issuing countries: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The centre of the coin shows a stylised human figure whose left arm is prolonged by the euro symbol. The initials ΓΣ of the artist appear below the euro symbol. The name(s) of the issuing country in the national language(s) appear(s) at the top, while the indication 1999-2009 and the acronym EMU translated into the national language(s) appear at the bottom. The outer ring depicts the twelve stars of the European flag. BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND/WWU 1999-2009 Mintmark: The mintmark (A, D, F, G or J) appears at the right hand side of the design

Additional information

In 1972 the European Exchange Rate Association was created to limit fluctuations between currencies. In 1975 a basket of currencies was used to define the European Currency Unit (ECU) and in 1979 the European Monetary System was created. 1990 saw the start of the first stage of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and its second stage in 1994, when the European Monetary Institute prepared the establishment of the European Central Bank (ECB). In 1996 the European Commission promoted the currency abbreviation €. In 1999, with the third stage of EMU, all participating currencies were linked to the euro by exchange rate parity. In February 2008, an online vote determined the favoured design out of five proposals submitted in the design competition for the EMU Community Edition: The coin, designed by Georgios Stamatopoulos, features a stylised human figure, a stick figure on the blank of an irregularly shaped ancient coin, with the € symbol on his left arm. It symbolises the transition from the bartering of archaic times to European Economic and Monetary Union.

Edge lettering

Designer