NEW NATIONAL SIDE OF EURO CIRCULATION COINS

(2005/C 131/09)

Euro circulation coins have legal tender status throughout the euro area. The Commission publishes all new euro coin designs (1) with a view to informing anyone required to handle coins in the course of their work and the public at large. In accordance with the Council conclusions of 8 December 2003 (2), Member States and countries that have concluded a Monetary Agreement with the Community providing for the issuance of euro circulation coins are allowed to issue certain quantities of commemorative euro circulation coins on condition that not more than one new coin design is issued per country per year and that only the 2 EUR denomination is used. These coins have the technical features of normal euro circulation coins, but bear a commemorative design on the obverse national side.

Issuing State: Spain

Subject of commemoration: 4th centenary of the first edition of ‘The ingenious nobleman Don Quixote of La Mancha’

Factual description of the design: The inner part of the coin depicts an image of ‘El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha’, who appears holding a lance, and windmills in the background. To the left, there is a marked sector in which the word ‘ESPAÑA’ appears incused, and underneath this sector the MINT mark ‘M’. On the outer ring of the coin, the twelve stars of the European Union are depicted, with, on the right, four of them (corresponding to the positions 1, 2, 3 and 4 on a clock) incused within an arc. The year of mintage appears at the bottom among three stars.

Issue volume: 8 million coins

Approximate issue period: April 2005

(1)  See OJ C 373 of 28.12.2001, pp. 1-30 for a reference to all national sides that were issued in 2002.

(2)  See conclusions of the General Affairs Council of 8 December 2003 on changes in the design of national sides of euro coins. See also Commission Recommendation of 29 September 2003 on a common practice for changes to the design of national obverse sides of euro circulation coins (OJ L 264 of 15.10.2003, p. 38-39).