New euro banknotes promised a people's design in the spirit of the times
The stated goals are to reflect the values of the new Europe on the banknotes and to extend the life of paper money in the era of bitcoin and cashless payments. As BBC notes, the European Central Bank has undertaken a redesign of banknotes to make them "closer to modern Europeans of all ages and backgrounds," according to ECB President Christine Lagarde.
During the euro's circulation, the EU has experienced a debt crisis, lost the UK after Brexit, opened and then closed its borders to refugees. The search for a new identity in the largest political union on the planet is leading to discord among its members and heated debates about European values. There are six of them: human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and human rights.
The current euro was updated quite recently, but the design has hardly changed. Only the 500-euro note disappeared, and Malta and Cyprus appeared on the map due to the expansion of the eurozone. Otherwise, everything remained as it was from the very beginning – bland, abstract, and somewhat symbolic, so as not to offend anyone.
Currently, the banknotes feature windows, doors, and bridges – symbols of the European spirit of openness and cooperation. Moreover, these are not specific monuments of European architecture, but schematic examples from different eras: classicism, Gothic, Baroque. What will be on the new banknotes will only be known in 2024.
The plan is as follows. First, the ECB will conduct focus groups in eurozone countries and compile a preliminary list of themes for the new design. Then a group of experts (one from each country) will draw up a shortlist, and the ECB will ask the public to submit proposals on the selected themes. This will be followed by a competition for graphic solutions, the results of which will again be put up for public discussion. The final say will rest with the ECB.
The decision to update the banknotes predictably enlivened social media. The Olympics of wit started in full force, despite Monday morning, and the culture wars over European identity flared up with renewed vigor. Amid a barrage of jokes about bitcoin, there is also more subtle humor. Some suggest putting a portrait of Yanis Varoufakis on the banknotes – a Spartan from the Greek-European debt war that nearly tore the eurozone apart. Others consider the phrase "Whatever it takes" a worthy motto for the new money – the promise of former ECB President Mario Draghi to save the eurozone at any cost.
Two decades of the euro is a success story, but it does not guarantee a bright future. Over these 20 years, the eurozone has not lost a single member; on the contrary, it has expanded from 11 to 19 countries and challenged the largest economy on the planet – the American one, ending the dollar's monopoly as the world's reserve currency.
The 19 eurozone countries are home to 340 million people – more than the United States. Several other countries' currencies are pegged to the euro; it plays a key role in the lives of half a billion people and in the further integration of Europe. Of the 27 EU countries, all except Denmark are obliged to switch to the euro at some point – but its krone is effectively pegged to the single European currency.
However, during this time, a new threat to the central banks' monopoly on issuing means of payment has appeared on the horizon – cryptocurrencies. The ECB's counterattack on bitcoin and its main weapon – the digital euro – is still at the stage of very preliminary planning. All the more surprising was the decision to redesign banknotes in the era of the cashless payments boom, only fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the ECB is confident that cash will remain a means of payment for a long time, and therefore requires attention and updating. Surveys and statistics confirm this. In 2019, the ECB conducted a large-scale study of payment habits in 17 of the 19 eurozone countries and found that Europeans have not fallen out of love with cash. In stores and among themselves, 73% pay with cash, and in monetary terms, 48% of all payments are cash, 41% are cards.
The situation is gradually changing. While in 2016, 32% preferred to pay with cash, by 2019 that figure was 27%, while the popularity of cashless payments rose to 49% from 43%. Nevertheless, Europeans are not ready to abandon cash entirely – 55% say they do not want a future without banknotes and coins.
"Despite the growth of cashless payments during the pandemic, demand for cash has increased due to its critical role as a store of value. As part of the 'Cash 2030' strategy, we are taking measures to ensure that cash remains available and accepted as a means of payment in the foreseeable future – even after the possible launch of the digital euro," the ECB said.