The European Central Bank (ECB) has unveiled proposed motifs for the next generation of Euro banknotes, centered on European nature and culture — including rivers, birds, and abstract landscapes — replacing the current architectural themes.
Public submissions during the consultation phase have included proposals such as Miguel de Cervantes, Marie Curie, and Leonardo da Vinci, reflecting citizen interest in honoring cultural icons. The ECB has not endorsed any individual portraits, emphasizing pan-European symbolism and inclusivity.
I’m not sure if I like the idea of putting the faces of specific people on the banknotes. Wasn’t the whole reason of the fake architectural styles and bridges on the notes, to not give preferential treatment to any one country?
Now they are proposing specific people from specific countries:
So what about representation for the other countries?
As a dual Polish-Spanish citizen I’m getting double representation: Cervantes and Maria Skłodowska-Curie. All I can say to all the French, Dutch, Czech and other nationals without any representation is: you should have produced more culturally significant people :P
With 27 member states and only 6 bank notes, you cannot represent every country no matter how many culturally significant people each country has. It forces you to pick at most six, and the rest is simply not represented. That is why the original notes represented the general idea of architectural styles and not specific real-world examples of those architectural styles.
The proposal for landscapes, rivers and birds seems like a much better one, in my opinion.
I’m just joshing. Of course it’s a stupid idea. They should use neutral images or let each country design their own version of the bill.
Or do what they do with coins and just have slightly different banknote designs, one for each country
That’s a peculiar combination. There’s dozens of us!
People escaping Poland end up in many different places but Spain is definitely not that common.