New ‘Greek’ euro coin unveiled

GREECE’S future in the euro may be in doubt, but the EU has nevertheless picked a Greek design for a special coin for the 30th anniversary of the bloc’s official flag.

With no discernible irony, the à2 coin, designed by Georgios Stamatopoulos of the Bank of Greece, was chosen by 30% of 100 000 voters in an online competition by the European Commission.

It features childishly drawn human shapes dancing in a circle around the EU’s 12-starred flag.

Stamatopoulos said the design “represents 12 stars that morph into human figures embracing the birth of a new Europe”.

Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission vice-president for the euro, said the coin celebrated the “key moment” of the adoption of the flag as the EU’s official emblem.

“I welcome the winning design by the Bank of Greece and the participation of tens of thousands of Europeans in its selection,” he said in a statement.

About 75 million of the coins would be produced for use in the 19 countries that use the European single currency, the commission said.

But there are fears that the coin may last longer than debt-stricken Greece’s membership of the eurozone.

Greece’s radical Syriza government is locked in a fourmonth standoff with its EU-IMF creditors to unlock the last tranche of its international bailout so that it can pay its bills.

Athens risks default and a possible exit from the euro if it cannot make a payment to the IMF due on Friday, with the EU this week playing down Greek claims that a deal was imminent. But despite the latest outbreak in the Greek debt crisis that has repeatedly threatened to cause the collapse of the euro, Brussels is pushing on with its vision of a currency that can unite the continent.

For the coin competition, the eurozone’s national mints submitted a total of 62 designs and a jury selected the five that then went to a public vote. —