For quite a while I have been wondering why the description of this forum says it is also about, quote, the "new Euro coins". They were first made in 1998 and have been in use for more than three years. But finally the time has come where the term makes sense again: The EU will indeed issue new euro coins ... At its meeting in Luxembourg today, the Ecofin Council decided that the "map" on the euro and cent coins should be updated. The current reverses show the European Union as it was before May 2004, including the three countries that do not use the euro. It does, however, not show the ten that joined the EU a year ago. From what I have read in the news, the countries that will introduce the euro soon (probably Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia, possibly in early 2007) will issue euro coins with the updated map. I guess that will also be the time when the existing euro countries switch to the new design. The current coins will then continue to circulate alongside the new ones. Christian
Actually that is good news! New countries joining the EU will force changes in the Euro design! At least the EU collectors have that to look forward to as in the U.S we have seen the same dead politicians for so long that no one cares anymore! If it were not for the new circulating commemoratives coin collecting in the U.S. would have still been stalled with no new collectors entering the hobby. I am just thankful I jumped on the Euro wagon when they were released in 2002 and then making the move to add silver euro commemoratives has been very rewarding this past 3 years. Been fun trading with European collectors!
Isn't the grass always greener on the other side? ;-) I collect "both" too, euros (circulation, commemorative and collector coins) and US coins - mostly the "common stuff" like SQs and the new nickels but I also have a few clad halfs and silver dollars. Nothing really rare or precious in my US collection, but lots of nicely designed pieces ... Oh, and here is a first "official word" regarding the new euro designs. From the EU Presidency's website: http://www.eu2005.lu/en/actualites/communiques/2005/05/13infoecofin1/index.html "With regard to the future minting of euro coins, the ministers agreed that the future common side of coins to be minted by the new Member States of the euro zone shall represent the entire European Union territory. In a second phase, once new coins are issued in the whole euro zone, this practice shall be universally applied." Christian
I think the best think is to change the design overally and not to use map on these coins. It can have any simbol from ancient Greece, Rome and so on.
Won't happen in 2007, or whenever the first new euro countries issue their pieces. But according to Jean-Claude Juncker, chair of the euro group, that may indeed be done at a later stage ... Christian
Nice idea, but no way it will happen. The individual countries get one side to mess with, but even that is something some eurocrats in Brussels would like to see banned.
Sure, you will always find somebody somewhere in the EU who suggests something strange. Not that this is too different from politics at the state or federal level ;-) but "eurocrats" just sounds too cute to give such a chance away. The European Commission actually has a website ("Get your facts straight") dedicated to such rumors which seem to be particularly popular in the UK ... Christian
The Italians were planning to issue a commemerative 2E coin celebrating the first anniversery of the signing of the EU constitution which has now just died due to the two referenda in France and the Netherlands. It would be interesting if it's still issued now that the documents dead.
Good question ... The ratification procedure will go on AFAIK until each member state has either ratified the constitution or decided not to ratify it. Legally the constitution is "dead" indeed, ie. the EC and EU Treaties as amended in Nice will continue to apply. But in order to make a decision on how to proceed, it makes some sense to know where one is at. Issuing a coin that celebrates last year's Council agreement on the Constitution would indeed be a little odd Christian
So much for that theory ;-) http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressRel...format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en This is the Commission recommendation which will be discussed at the Council meetings next week. Christian
Great stuff!! The Eurocrats are getting more involved. I agree that it can be confusing about where a specific national side came from, but in the end, who cares - the common side is the denomination. I like the comment about denoninations not appearing on the national side. Those crazy Austrians put the denomination AND their flag on the national side. The Greeks also put the denomnination on the natl side, but this is for languange and national pride. Interersting that the EU bank does not want denominations on the national side, though, as some of the new members have different alphabets, and they might need their own word for "cent" or "euro".
Personally I do not find the absence of a country name to be very confusing but am not bothered by them either ... At least that put an end to those odd rumors about "Brussels" wanting to do away with the country specific sides. As for why the Greek have the denomination on their national sides too, as far as I know that was some kind of compromise - the common sides have the unit names in Latin characters only which would have been quite odd for the Greek. So they were even allowed to use the traditional name lepto/lepta in Greek characters. Other "local" spellings, in languages written with Latin characters, do not appear on any euro or cent coin. (Why the Austrian pieces repeat the value in euro and cent ... don't ask me. ) So neither the Finnish or French usage is used on the pieces, and I guess that will apply to new euro countries too. What terms are used in everyday use and even local legal documents is a different story ... Christian
It will be very interesting when or if Cyprus & Malta introduce the Euro currency.It will attract a lot of interest from British Commonwealth coin & banknote collectors,as both Cyprus & Malta are both member countries of the British Commonwealth. Aidan.
I pray God that never happens. Although I did read an article yesterday that claimed that the Italians may be forced out of the euro (by Italian failings, rather than by Brussels diktat). That article also claimed that there is also growing movement (although still a minority) in Italy for Italian withdrawal from the euro.
Would be interesting anyway to see an explanation of what kind of "Brussels diktat" that could be ... If the Italians want their lira back, it would be silly to try and keep them from doing so. But I think that scenario is about as likely as the UK introducing the euro As for the original issue of this discussion, these are the press releases about today's Ecofin Council decisions: Council Conclusions - Common guidelines for the national sides of euro circulation coins http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ecofin/85093.pdf Council Conclusions - Change to the common sides of the euro circulation coins http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ecofin/85089.pdf Christian
Thanks for posting these links. They are a great source of info, and it is difficult to get this information if you do not know exactly where to look.
