Happy birthday, euro!

The commemorative coin is a reminder of the growing importance of the euro in people's lives over the past ten years. The ship depicted on the commemorative coin represents the significance of the euro in trade and the factory represents the role of the euro in industry. The wind energy plants on the coin remind of the part that the euro has to play in energy production.

90 million birthday coins

Around 90 million of the commemorative coins have been issued. The design on the reverse side of the coin was chosen by the public, who voted for a winner of a design competition from the five best entries selected by a preliminary jury.

All in all, almost 35,000 Eurozone citizens voted in the competition, which was held on the European Commission's website. The winning design garnered 34 per cent of all the votes.

The winning entry was by the Austrian Helmut Andexlinger.

Further information:

Henna Karjalainen
Communications Director
Mint of Finland Ltd.
+ 358 50 575 9197
henna.karjalainen(at)mint.fi

Mint of Finland Ltd. is the leading mint in the Eurozone. It is the sole owner of the German coin-blank manufacturer, Saxonia EuroCoin GmbH, and holds a 50 percent share in the Norwegian Det Norske Myntverket. Mint of Finland is dedicated to designing, marketing and minting coins. The company is owned by the Finnish state. Mint of Finland produces metallic currency, commemorative and collector coins, as well as coin sets. Mint of Finland will issue six new collector coins and seven provincial coins in 2011. To see how coins are produced, visit the 'About a Coin' exhibition at Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre. For further information about the 2011 events, go to: www.suomenrahapaja.fi