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15 November 1994
The Council of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) determines the seven denominations of the banknotes: ECU 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500.

12 June 1995
The EMI Council chooses two themes for the banknote designs – “Ages and styles of Europe” and an abstract or modern design – and decides that the only words to appear on the banknotes should be the name of the currency and the initials of the issuing authority.

15-16 December 1995
The Madrid European Council adopts the name “euro” for the new currency.

6 February 1996
The Banknote Working Group, made up of cash experts from the EU national central banks, submits design briefs for the two themes.

12 February 1996
The design competition is launched, with 29 individuals or teams nominated by 14 EU national central banks participating. Danmarks Nationalbank decides not to take part.

3 September 1996
After consulting the European Blind Union, which represents some 7.4 million blind or partially sighted people in Europe, the EMI Council determines the size of each banknote denomination and chooses tactile marks for the R200 and R500 banknotes.

13 September 1996
The design competition closes; 44 proposals (27 “traditional” and 17 “modern”) are submitted. Each proposal is assigned an identification code to ensure that the selection procedure is anonymous and impartial.

26-27 September 1996
A jury of internationally renowned experts in marketing, design and art history assesses all the proposals and draws up two shortlists of the five best design series for each theme.

7-13 October 1996
A public survey on the ten shortlisted designs is carried out involving more than 2,000 people from all EU Member States except Denmark.

3 December 1996
The EMI Council selects entry T 382 as the winner. This design was created by Robert Kalina from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.

13 December 1996
The winning design is presented to the Dublin European Council and then shown at press conferences in Dublin and Frankfurt.

February 1998
The EMI Council approves the final designs and technical specifications
for the new euro banknotes.July 1999 Euro banknote production gets under way. By the end of 2001 more than 15 billion banknotes have been produced in 15 printing works for the euro cash changeover.

1 January 2001
Greece joins the euro area.

30 August 2001
The ECB President officially unveils the final designs of the euro
banknotes in Frankfurt.

1 September 2001

Distribution of the euro banknotes to banks and retailers begins.

1 January 2002
Euro banknotes and coins are put into circulation.

 

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