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CC 343 2019
Coincard
BU Französisch
Coincard – French version
Belgium · 25th anniversary of the founding of the European Monetary Institute (Europäisches Währungsinstitut)
Mintage75,000
Issue price€10.00
Issue date9 May 2019
PackagingCoincard
Edge lettering2 ★ ★ × 6, alternating upright/inverted
Market price€13.50
Mintage information from source: Gesamt 150.000 · 1:1 auf NL/FR geteilt
Issue occasion
The coin commemorates the 25th anniversary of the European Monetary Institute (EMI), which was founded in 1994 and prepared the transition to a European single currency. The design shows Alexandre Lamfalussy, the first president of the European Monetary Institute, along with his name, the abbreviation “EMI”, the inscription “European Monetary Institute” and the year 1994. Overlapping coins bearing the inscriptions “EUR”, “ECU” and “BEF” symbolise the transition from national currencies to the euro.
The design
In the centre of the coin, the portrait of Alexandre Lamfalussy, the first President of the European Monetary Institute, is depicted on the right, with his name below. In the centre on the left is the abbreviation “EMI”, with the year 1994 above it, when the monetary institute was founded and Lamfalussy was appointed its first President. Below the inscription “EMI”, several falling coins are depicted, bearing the inscriptions “EUR”, “ECU” and “BEF” (from top to bottom). As this is a Belgian issue, we chose “BEF”, the abbreviation for our former national currency. This design is intended to symbolise the transition from national currencies to a European single currency, the euro, as the main task of the European Monetary Institute was the creation of the European System of Central Banks, including the ECB, and the new currency. The inscription “European Monetary Institute” is located in the upper part of the left side of the coin.
As the Royal Dutch Mint will strike the coins, the mint mark of Utrecht, a caduceus, and the Belgian mint master’s mark, the coat of arms of the municipality of Herzele, are located on the left. The country code BE and the year 2019 are located along the lower edge. The initials “LL” of the coin designer Luc Luycx are located on the right.
The outer ring of the coin features the twelve stars of the European flag.
As the Royal Dutch Mint will strike the coins, the mint mark of Utrecht, a caduceus, and the Belgian mint master’s mark, the coat of arms of the municipality of Herzele, are located on the left. The country code BE and the year 2019 are located along the lower edge. The initials “LL” of the coin designer Luc Luycx are located on the right.
The outer ring of the coin features the twelve stars of the European flag.
Background on the topic
The European Monetary Institute was established in the second stage of the European Economic and Monetary Union, whose legal basis had been created by the Maastricht Treaty. During this phase, the central banks were to cooperate more closely and coordinate their monetary policies more strongly. However, the Institute did not yet conduct a common monetary policy; the national central banks remained responsible for this. Instead, it developed the organisational, legal and technical prerequisites for the subsequent European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank.
The preparatory work included common monetary policy instruments, rules for payment transactions, statistical procedures and concepts for issuing the new banknotes. After completing these tasks, the Institute was replaced by the European Central Bank in 1998. At the beginning of 1999, the euro was initially introduced as book money, while coins and banknotes did not enter circulation until 2002.
The ECU mentioned on the coin, the European Currency Unit, was not a generally used cash currency. It was based on a basket of European currencies and served, among other things, as a unit of account and reference value in the European Monetary System. The Belgian franc, to which the abbreviation BEF refers, was, by contrast, Belgium’s currency at the time. The juxtaposition of both units with the euro illustrates the different levels of monetary integration: national currency, European unit of account and common currency.
Alexandre Lamfalussy was a Belgian economist and central banker born in Hungary. Before working at the European Monetary Institute, he was employed, among other places, by the Bank for International Settlements (Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich) in Basel, of which he was General Manager. His career thus combined Belgian banking, international cooperation between central banks and the preparation of European monetary union.
For Belgium, the anniversary therefore also had a personal connection: Lamfalussy was a Belgian citizen and had spent part of his professional career in Belgian banking and central banking. The occasion chosen commemorates less the visible introduction of cash than the institutional preparations without which the transition to the euro would not have been possible.
The preparatory work included common monetary policy instruments, rules for payment transactions, statistical procedures and concepts for issuing the new banknotes. After completing these tasks, the Institute was replaced by the European Central Bank in 1998. At the beginning of 1999, the euro was initially introduced as book money, while coins and banknotes did not enter circulation until 2002.
The ECU mentioned on the coin, the European Currency Unit, was not a generally used cash currency. It was based on a basket of European currencies and served, among other things, as a unit of account and reference value in the European Monetary System. The Belgian franc, to which the abbreviation BEF refers, was, by contrast, Belgium’s currency at the time. The juxtaposition of both units with the euro illustrates the different levels of monetary integration: national currency, European unit of account and common currency.
Alexandre Lamfalussy was a Belgian economist and central banker born in Hungary. Before working at the European Monetary Institute, he was employed, among other places, by the Bank for International Settlements (Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich) in Basel, of which he was General Manager. His career thus combined Belgian banking, international cooperation between central banks and the preparation of European monetary union.
For Belgium, the anniversary therefore also had a personal connection: Lamfalussy was a Belgian citizen and had spent part of his professional career in Belgian banking and central banking. The occasion chosen commemorates less the visible introduction of cash than the institutional preparations without which the transition to the euro would not have been possible.