Ref. Ares(2015)557522 - 10/02/2015
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE GENERAL
ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
Stability mechanism, euro cash and legal issues
Head of Unit
Brussels, 10 February 2015
To:
Mr Maarten Brouwer, President of the Mint Directors Working Group
Subject: The issuance of a common commemorative coin in 2015 celebrating the 30th
anniversary of the European Union flag
Dear Mr Brouwer,
Euro-area Finance Ministers endorsed on 9 December 2014 the issuance in 2015, by all
euro-area Member States, of a commemorative 2-euro circulation coin with a common
design to mark the 30th anniversary of the European Union flag.
We are pleased to inform all Mint Directors that the design of the coin will be elaborated
on the basis of a competition between all the Mints of the euro-area. Mints of other EU
Member States are also welcome to participate if they are interested.
The Commission has therefore the honour to invite the EU Mints to start preparing the
design proposals which must be submitted between 2 March - 20 March 2015 to Irina
Stoicescu ([email protected]). A jury composed of 2 designers not having
submitted designs for the competition, the ECSC chair and representatives from ECFIN
will subsequently make a pre-selection of the best 5 designs at the end of March. The final
design will be selected by EU citizens in May. The selection will be organised in the form
of a web vote, where all EU citizens and residents will be invited to vote via a special web
page set up for this purpose by the Eiiropean Commission. The winning design will be
announced immediately following the end of the voting and the design template will be
transmitted to the Mint Directors Working Group in order for the cutting files/minting
tools to be prepared.
It is planned that the prize for the winning design will be a 2-person city trip to Milan
with cultural program.
Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.
Office; CHAR 11/112. Telephone: direct line (32-2) 296 97 85.
Further specifications for the design competition are included in the Annex to this letter
and attached you will find a copyright declaration. You are kindly invited to forward this
information to all EU Mint Directors.
We are looking forward to receiving the design proposals from the Mints. We trust that
beautiful designs will illustrate the importance of such event as the European Union
adopting a flag as a symbolic element of its unity and identity.
Should further information
be needed,
please contact Irina Stoicescu
([email protected]) or Rüdiger Voss ([email protected].
ANNEX I
Specifications for the design competition for a 2-euro common
commemorative coin celebrating 30 years of the European Union flag
Design requirements:
The design should symbolise 30 years of the European Union flag. It should visualise the
European Flag as a symbol not only of the European Union but also of Europe's unity and
identity in a wider sense. It should reflect the ideals of solidarity and harmony among the
peoples of Europe.
In accordance with the mies on national sides the design cannot include the
denomination, or any parts thereof, neither the name of the currency. This does not,
however, exclude a symbol of the currency. The established rules for the design of
national sides should obviously be respected. The compulsory elements of the coin are:
• on the outer ring: the 12 stars of the European flag completely surrounding the design;
• in the inner circle: the year 2015 (e.g. "2015" or "1985-2015") and the text "ISSUING
COUNTRY" (that will be replaced by the name of each country in its language(s) on
the coin to be issued).
The design should preferably not include any other text in order to avoid possible
translation difficulties and to limit the difficulties for those countries having several
national languages. However, if there is a text, it should be extremely short and in
English. The design shall be drawn up in such a way that, where applicable a mint mark
can be added in the inner circle of the coin. Furthermore, a design in the form of a map
should preferably be avoided since it might be seen as repetitive to have a geographical
representation on both sides of the coin. A short explanatory notice on the submitted
design can be added on a separate file or sheet.
Mints are allowed to submit more than one project.
Projects can be sent either electronically or on A4 paper. The technical requirements of
the electronic files are:
JPEG- format, 72 DPI and 300 DPI
10 cm diameter
white background, no shadows
RGB: grey can be chosen; yellow 254 /210/62
CMYK: grey can be chosen; yellow 1 / 1 6 / 8 6 / 0
Gradient as needed
Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.
Office: CHAR 11/112. Telephone: direct line (32-2) 296 97 85.
Copyright:
Every design shall be accompanied by a signed declaration of the designer that
the Commission can use the submitted design for publication on the Commission's
website set up for public voting; and should the submitted design be selected, the
copyright of the design is transferred to the European Union, represented by the
Commission.
The Commission will subsequently authorise all issuing Member States to make use of
the selected design for the purpose of striking the coins.
At the end of the competition, the copyright of the winning design will be transferred by
the winning designer.
Declaration attached.
Time-table:
Submission of design proposals
Pre-selection of design proposals
Selection of the final design by EU citizens
Start of minting
First coins are put into circulation
2-20 March 2015
23-27 March 2015
30 March - 09 May 2015
June 2015
as of 1 July 2015
Annex II
Declaration to be added to the coin design application
I, [name in printed letters], hereby
• grant to the European Commission the right to use the design I submitted
for the design competition aimed to select a 2-euro common
commemorative coin celebrating 30 years of the European Union flag for
publication on the Commission's website set up for public voting, and
• transfer the copyright of this design to the European Union, represented
by the European Commission, in the event the submitted design has been
selected as winning design.
[place and date]
[signature]