10 Years of Euro Banknotes and Coins

The euro has grown into a major factor both across Europe and globally, establishing itself as a key player in the international monetary system. The design elements surrounding the euro sign symbolise its significance for everyday people, the financial world (the ECB tower), trade (ships), industry (factories), the energy sector, and research and development (wind turbines). The initials of designer Helmut Andexlinger appear below the ECB tower. The names of the issuing states in their respective languages are inscribed centrally above the design, with the dates 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 their inscriptions, which appear 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, euro banknotes and coins entered circulation simultaneously in twelve states of the European Union — an unprecedented event in monetary history. Within a few weeks, more than 300 million people exchanged their national means of payment for a common currency that had already existed in cashless form since 1999. The introduction of cash was the most visible symbol of European economic integration and changed daily life overnight in countries such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Slovakia initially followed this process from the outside: as an EU candidate country at the time, it only joined the Union in 2004 and eventually introduced the euro in 2009 — seven years after the historic starting point.

In the ten years following the cash introduction, the euro developed into the world's second largest reserve currency and the most important means of payment in the European single market. It eased cross-border trade, eliminated exchange-rate risk for businesses, and drew the economies of member states closer together — while the sovereign debt crisis from 2010 onward put the eurozone's institutional foundations through serious tests. To mark the tenth anniversary of euro cash, all euro states issued a joint 2-euro commemorative coin in 2012, including Slovakia with its own national version of this European joint issue.