In June 1985 the heads of state and government at the Milan summit made the blue flag with the twelve golden stars the official emblem of the European Community. Since then it has been regarded worldwide as the unmistakable symbol of unity, identity and shared European integration. The 30th anniversary of this historic decision was celebrated in 2015 with the fourth 2-euro joint issue of the eurozone. A total of 19 euro states took part in this issue, which widened the circle of issuing countries compared with the previous joint issue by Lithuania and Latvia.
The official issue at the end of the year was preceded by a tightly organised timetable in 2015: from 2 to 20 March the state mints of the eurozone submitted a total of 62 different designs, from which an expert jury selected the five most convincing proposals between 23 and 27 March. After a major advertising campaign in April, the final online vote of EU citizens followed, running from 20 April to 27 May 2015. Interest was greater than ever before: more than 100,000 people cast their vote, many times the turnout of 2012 (34,611 votes). With a share of almost 30 per cent, design no. 4 by Georgios Stamatopoulos prevailed – an experienced engraver at the central bank of Greece, who had designed the much-discussed “stick figure coin” six years earlier.
The winning motif places the European flag at the centre of the coin and surrounds it with twelve stylised human figures. According to the designer’s guiding idea, the flag stands as a symbol that unites people and cultures with shared views and ideals for a better future; the twelve stars turning into human figures directly embody the birth of a new, more closely knit Europe. As this was once again an official cross-border 2-euro commemorative coin, the popular exception remained in place: despite the joint issue, every country was allowed to issue additional purely national 2-euro commemorative coins for the collectors’ market in 2015.
