Spain · 30 years of the European flag

Issue date1 Dec 2015

Total mintage4,000,000

EU maximum4,000,000

Editions2

Edge lettering2 ★ ★ × 6, alternating upright/inverted

InscriptionESPAÑA / 1985-2015 / M / GS

DesignerGeorgios Stamatopoulos

mintFábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre / · Real Casa de la Moneda, Madrid

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin honours the thirty-year existence of the EU flag. The design created by Georgios Stamatopoulos depicts the flag as a unifying symbol for peoples and cultures; twelve stars take on the shape of people and welcome the birth of a new Europe. Also shown are the inscription “ESPAÑA”, the years “1985-2015”, the mint mark and the designer’s initials.

The design

The design depicts the EU flag as a symbol that brings together peoples and cultures with shared ideas and ideals to shape a better future. Twelve stars take the form of people and welcome the birth of a new Europe. At the top right along the coin’s ring, the issuing country “ESPAÑA” and the years “1985-2015” can be seen. The mintmark is located on the right between the flag and the year dates. The designer’s initials (Georgios Stamatopoulos) are shown at the bottom right.
The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the outer ring of the coin.

Background on the topic

The European flag was not originally created as a symbol of the European Union. The Council of Europe (Europarat), an international organisation independent of today’s EU, adopted it in 1955. It consists of twelve golden stars arranged in a circle on a blue background. The number twelve does not refer to either the number of member states at the time or any later number of member states. It was chosen as a fixed symbolic number; the closed circle represents unity. Therefore, the number of stars remained unchanged even as the organisation expanded.

The European Communities, from which the European Union later emerged, adopted the symbol in 1985. Since 1986, it has been used by their institutions. Strictly speaking, the European Union did not yet exist under this name at that time: it was only established by the Treaty of Maastricht, which entered into force in 1993. The designation “EU flag” is therefore a commonly used abbreviation today for a symbol that was initially adopted by the European Communities.

For Spain, this development coincided with the period of its accession to the European Communities. Spain’s accession treaty was signed in 1985; on 1 January 1986, the country became a member together with Portugal. The adoption of the flag and Spain’s European integration thus took place almost simultaneously. They also occurred just a few years after Spain’s transition from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a parliamentary monarchy.

The issue formed part of a joint coin series of the states in the euro area. Such common issues use the same basic design on the national sides, while the name of the state and individual minting details are adapted. Previously, common 2-euro coins had been issued, among other occasions, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union, and the tenth anniversary of the introduction of euro banknotes and coins. The occasion was suitable for another common issue because the flag does not represent an individual state or a specific EU institution, but is used as an overarching symbol of European institutions.