"Euro coins are to be redesigned to either show a larger EU or another common symbol reflecting a bigger EU, EU finance ministers agreed on 13 May. Although euro bank notes show a map of the post-2004 enlargement 25-nation bloc, the map depicted on current euro coins shows old member states only." New Obverse for the Euro ~ Euro Report Does anyone know when these new coins will come out or have a picture of the new design?
Guess that the new common sides will not be very different from the current ones. Most probably they will first be used on coins from those member states that start using the euro in a few years, like Estonia or Slovenia. This is a press release of the European Commission regarding the designs ... http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressRel...format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en ... and this is the decision of the European Council (see page 12 "Change to the common sides of the coins"): http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/newsWord/en/ecofin/85253.doc So far I have not seen the new/updated designs yet. Here is an unofficial visualization, from an Italian designer: http://www.lomb.it/index.php?status=&sub=1315 Click any of the two images in the upper left corner to see what those coins may look like. Again, these are not official designs, but I do not believe that the maps will replaced by something completely different. Christian
By the way, I do not think the word obverse is right here. As far as I know, the side showing the face value and the "map" is usually considered the reverse. Confusion can be avoided by using the terms "common side" and "national (or: country specific) side" The European Commission also adopted a recommendation regarding those national sides: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressRel...format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en The European Council basically agreed but decided that the recommendation regarding the face value is for Latin script only. (That is, of the current euro countries, Austria would be affected but Greece would not.) The recommendation to add the country name would affect member states such as Austria, Finland or Germany. However, the Council also stated that those guidelines apply to newly designed coins only. In other words, no currently used design will have to be modified in order to meet the new standards. Christian
