Euro design takes into account future enlargement, says Commissioner

The new European map, as depicted on the euro, takes into consideration the future enlargement of the Euro zone, in an effort to avoid modifications in the future, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia has said.

This was outlined to Italian MEPs Marko Panela and Marko Kapato who wanted to know why Turkey, a candidate country, had not been included in the map.

A Commission spokeswoman explained that the decision on the matter had been taken by ECOFIN and already Slovenia, which joined the euro area in January this year, has coins with the new map while from January 1st, 2008, the same will apply in Cyprus and Malta.

According to the two MEPs in June 2005 ECOFIN decided to amend both sides of the 1 and 2 euro coins and the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins, to depict all EU member states.

The Italian deputies wanted to know why certain non EU members were included in the map and Turkey, an aspiring member, was not.

In his reply, Almunia said that the designs of the new coins do not represent exact geographical depiction but are merely a general presentation of the European continent, a decision taken with a view to avoid any modifications during possible future enlargement of the EU.

He also said that under no circumstances is the picture of the European continent based on an evaluation of the democratic character of various member states or their ability to implement other EU criteria.