The €2 coins which will commemorate the 1,150th anniversary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Great Moravia, set to be released in 2013, will contain the religious symbols that were originally proposed, the TASR newswire reported on November 23.
“The NBS [National Bank of Slovakia, country’s central bank – ed. note] Bank Council approved the original proposal of the design, even though it realises that the new approval process may lead to frustrating the original goal of releasing the commemorative coin throughout the 17-nation eurozone,” said spokesperson for the bank Petra Pauerová, as quoted by TASR.
The European Commission earlier stated that the commemorative coin cannot contain crosses and halos in order to observe the principle of religious neutrality in the European Union. Later it was revealed that it was not the EC as such, but certain eurozone members that objected to releasing the coin with religious symbols.
Meanwhile, almost the entire opposition in the Slovak parliament, with the exception of some Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) MPs, protested against the decision of the EU and demanded that the original proposal be accepted.
Ľudovít Kaník, head of the caucus of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) said that the NBS’s decision is proof that “it is worth it not to give up, to just shrug off an issue that interests us and the public of Slovakia”, TASR wrote.
Source: TASR
For more information about this story please see: European Commission denies responsibility in euro-coin design spat
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
