The French coin minting service has suffered an embarrassing gaffe, after it emerged that 27 million 10, 20, and 50 cent coins, totalling as much as €1.2m (£1.02m), had to be destroyed over a design error.
According to French outlet La Lettre, the Paris Mint, which produces France’s coins, produced a series of new coins which turned out not to be compliant with the European Commission.
The producer is reported to have rushed through production of the coins prior to official validation from Brussels.
According to the French outlet, the reason for the Paris Mint CEO Marc Scwartz’s decision to proceed with production prior to the official go-ahead, was that French Minister for the Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire was due to visit on December 7 and he wanted to be able to present him with the new batch of coins.
The coins themselves featured images of Simone Veil, a French Holocaust survivor and president of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, Josephine Baker, a US-born French dancer that aided the resistance during World War II, as well as Marie Curie.
However, according to France Info, the coins did not adhere to the strict rules around the presentation of the 12 stars of the Council of Europe.
Gilbert Acchiardi, president of the Cercle Numismatique de Nice, explained why the coins were rejected.
He said: “Of the 12 stars, there were some that were in the heads of the French characters, and they were very light, we practically couldn’t see them.
“The stars of the 12 Member States which founded Europe must clearly appear.”
Despite the blunder, Mr Acchiardi said: “These three coins must be re-minted and will be released in the spring.
“We let the workers work so that it would be ready for December 7, and then finally the coins were crushed because they did not comply with European legislation. They were re-melted”.
