10 Years of Euro Banknotes and Coins

The euro has grown into a major force in Europe and worldwide, and a key player in the international monetary system. The motifs arranged around the euro sign symbolise its significance for people, the financial world (ECB tower), trade (ships), industry (factories), energy, and research and development (wind turbines). The designer Helmut Andexlinger's initials appear beneath the ECB tower. The issuing states' names in their national languages are struck at the centre above the design, the years 2002–2012 below.

Third joint issue of the European Union. All 17 eurozone states issued a coin with the same design on the anniversary date of 1 January 2012. The coins differ only in the inscription, which appears in the respective national language. San Marino also issued a coin with the same design, which is not officially part of the joint issue.

On 1 January 2002, the euro entered circulation as cash — a step that Malta, then still outside the eurozone, initially observed from the outside. Malta joined the EU in 2004 and introduced the euro on 1 January 2008, making the island republic one of the currency area's younger members. Within just a few years, the euro had grown from a European internal currency into one of the most significant means of payment worldwide: with roughly a 20 percent share of global foreign exchange reserves and daily trading volumes in the trillions, it ranks alongside the US dollar as one of the leading currencies in the international monetary system. The European Central Bank in Frankfurt steers monetary policy for all member states — including Malta, whose economy is closely interwoven with the European single market.

The first decade of euro cash also included turbulent phases: the global financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent sovereign debt crisis put the monetary union through serious stress tests that it ultimately weathered together. For Malta, one of the smallest economies in the euro area, membership meant above all stability in foreign trade and simplified transactions with its most important European partners. To mark the tenth anniversary of euro cash, all euro states issued a joint commemorative coin in 2012 — one of the rare European joint issues in which every country minted the same design, collectively marking their shared monetary history.