Coin set proof

Economic and Monetary Union emerged gradually from European economic integration. It was given a binding framework by the Maastricht Treaty (Vertrag von Maastricht), which laid down criteria for participation in the single currency. These included requirements concerning price stability, long-term interest rates, the exchange rate, and government deficits and debt. These conditions were intended to ensure that economies with sufficiently stable fundamentals entered the monetary union.

With the beginning of the third stage of monetary union, the exchange rates of the participating national currencies were irrevocably fixed. The euro initially existed only as book money: accounts, financial markets and non-cash payments could already be denominated in euros, while national banknotes and coins continued to be used in everyday life. Euro cash did not enter circulation until the beginning of 2002. The former currencies were withdrawn from circulation after a generally short transitional period.

With monetary union, responsibility for monetary policy passed from the national central banks to the Eurosystem. This consists of the European Central Bank and the central banks of the countries in the euro area. Decisions on key interest rates and other monetary policy measures have since been taken jointly. Fiscal and budgetary policy, by contrast, remained fundamentally the responsibility of the individual Member States, but was coordinated through European rules. Monetary union thus combined a common monetary policy with national responsibility for government budgets.

At the start, eleven countries belonged to the euro area. Further EU Member States joined thereafter; at the beginning of 2009, Slovakia also introduced the euro. At the time of the coin’s issuance, the euro area therefore comprised 16 countries. Not all members of the European Union participated in the single currency.

The anniversary was suitable for a cross-border issue because monetary union is not a national institution but one created jointly. The selection of the design was also organised at European level: citizens and residents of the European Union were able to vote online on several designs. The common design side, combined with nationally identified issues, reflected the structure of the euro itself.