The French mint wanted to present the new cent coins during the visit of the Minister of Finance and therefore started production early. However, the EU Commission rejected the project.
The French mint “La Monnaie de Paris” will probably have to melt 27 million hastily produced 10, 20 and 50 cent coins. The coins, which feature a new French design, should enter circulation from January this year, the newspaper “Les Échos” reported Friday, citing information from the mint.
French authorities had already given the green light to the project, but the necessary approval from the EU Commission was still pending. In order to present the new coins during the visit of the Minister of Finance and Economy, Bruno Le Maire, to the Mint, in early December, production started earlier.
The EU stars are not clear enough
Four days after production of the coins began, the design was finally rejected by Brussels. The objection was that the EU stars were not visible clearly enough on the page representing Europe.
The minister then canceled his visit to the State Mint, which quickly presented a new project to the EU. Approval was made at the end of December, so production of the appropriate coins is still ongoing, according to people close to the Mint. Unsuitable coins must now be recycled – financial losses could amount to 700,000 to 1.2 million euros. (APA/dpa-AFX)