Spain has minted a commemorative, 2-euro coin to celebrate its turn for presiding over the European Union, which came into circulation on the 1st of June.
The Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre estimates that since its introduction, some 1.5m of them will have left the country and will be circulating within the Euro Zone in the next few months.
Around the inner part of the reverse (tails) side it bears the words, 2023 Presidencia Española, Consejo del La Union Europea.
This is permitted as one side (heads) is standard across the Euro Zone and the other is reserved for each country to use its own design.
Underneath the central design the coin bears the Spanish National Mint hallmark. The inner rim has 12 stars, one for each member of the Euro Zone.
However, there are restrictions on a country using its own design on the reverse side of Euro coins: mainly, they can only use 2-euro coins. Of course, the face side or obverse side must have the standard marking of a 2-euro coin.
(News: Spain)
Jeremy: thank you for the correction
According to ECB, the 12 stars are the 12 stars of the European flag, not the Eurozone (which has more than 12 members, though there were 12 founding members of the eurozone). And the 12 on the flag symbolises union, 12 being perfection (apostles, sons of jacob, labours of Hercules etc). Yeah, I know, EU is a long way from perfection but I’m quoting the council of Europe web site.