'European culture' and 'rivers and birds' possible themes for future euro banknotes

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has selected 'European culture' and 'rivers and birds' as possible themes for future euro banknotes, the institution announced in a press release on Thursday.

'European culture' (21 per cent), 'Rivers: the waters of life in Europe' (18%) and 'Birds: free, resilient, inspiring' (17 per cent) were the most frequently chosen themes in a survey of 23,377 Europeans conducted by the ECB. The same survey was also conducted online in July and August 2023, with a record number of more than 365,000 European respondents.

“We are very happy with the strong participation in our online survey,” said ECB President Christine Lagarde. “Both of the chosen themes share a common thread of connecting Europe and Europeans, and this is very much in keeping with our goal of making banknotes more relatable to people of all ages and backgrounds.”

The Governing Council has decided to set up an advisory group to propose motifs for the selected themes by the end of 2024. This will be followed by a design competition for the new banknotes, allowing European citizens to express their preferences on the design options.

The ECB expects to decide on the final designs in 2026 and to determine when the new banknotes will be produced and issued. Once a decision has been taken on the production of the new banknotes, it will be several years before the first banknotes are put into circulation.

^{© BELGA PHOTO HERWIG VERGULT}

Related News

Belgian inventions: The term 'euro'

At the turn of the century, the introduction of the euro was a hot topic. Twenty years later, we no longer dwell on the fact that there were once different currencies circulating within the European Union. Nor do we think about where the name 'euro' came from. Yet behind the name lies a beautiful and particularly Belgian story.

www.belganewsagency.eu