Italy · 10 years of the EMU

Economic and Monetary Union was established in several stages. A central legal basis was the Maastricht Treaty (Vertrag von Maastricht), which was agreed in the early 1990s. It laid down so-called convergence criteria that states were to fulfil before participating in the common currency. These included requirements concerning price stability, public finances, exchange rates and long-term interest rates. At the same time, the European Central Bank (Europäische Zentralbank) and the national central banks formed a common monetary-policy system.

Eleven states initially participated in the monetary union. Their exchange rates were irrevocably fixed, and responsibility for monetary policy was transferred to the Eurosystem. At first, the euro was used primarily for cashless payments, accounting and the financial markets. Banknotes and coins did not enter circulation until 2002. During a transitional period, the former national currencies were exchanged at fixed rates. Further states joined the euro area later; at the time of issue of the commemorative coin, Slovakia was also part of it, having introduced the euro at the beginning of 2009.

The common currency differs from a mere exchange-rate agreement. The participating countries no longer conduct independent monetary policy and can no longer alter the external value of their former national currencies. Decisions on key interest rates and monetary-policy instruments are made for the euro area as a whole. Fiscal and budgetary policy, by contrast, remains fundamentally a national responsibility, but is subject to European rules and coordination procedures.

The fact that all euro-area member states at the time used the same commemorative design reflected the cross-border nature of the subject. The design was decided by a public online vote. The deliberately simple imagery, reminiscent of an early line drawing, was intended to symbolise the development of economic exchange from barter to the common European currency. The coin thus referred not only to a date, but to the institutional and economic integration process behind the euro.