EU citizens and residents have now selected the winning design of the new commemorative euro coin celebrating 10 years of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the creation of the euro. See the results

Commemorative coins bearing this design will be issued by all euro-area Member States, starting in January 2009.

This is the second time that all euro-area countries issue a euro coin with a common design also on the national side, the first time being the issue of the commemorative 2-euro coin celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in 2007.

Commemorative coins always have a value of 2 euro and are destined for circulation in the whole euro area, although they are often the subject of keen interest from coin collectors.

The winning design was created by Mr George Stamatopoulos who is a sculptor at the Central Bank of Greece. Commemorative coins bearing this design will be issued by all euro-area Member States, starting in January 2009.

The design symbolises that the euro is the latest step in the long history of trade, from pre-historic barter – evoked by the deliberately primitive design – to Economic and Monetary Union.

Voting was open to all citizens or residents of the European Union and took place between 31 January and 22 February 2008. Voters could choose between 5 designs pre-selected by European Mint Directors. 141 675 participated in the vote. The winning design received 41.48% of the votes. Full Story