New Faces of the Euro: Grab Your Paper and Pencil, the Design of Banknotes is Changing

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided at the end of 2021 to redesign the euro banknotes after they have been in circulation for a long twenty years – and this will be done in collaboration with European citizens in a process expected to lead to a final decision on the new banknotes in 2024. Representatives of the ECB’s Banknote Committee, which includes representatives from the Croatian National Bank, will be involved in the entire process. Focus groups have been organized, they state in the CNB, to gather opinions from citizens of the euro area, as well as from Croatia and Bulgaria, on possible themes for future euro banknotes.

– The thematic advisory group has completed its work by proposing a shortlist of new themes to the ECB’s Governing Council (now including the governor of the Croatian central bank). The members of the advisory group were appointed by the ECB based on proposals from the national central banks of the euro area, and they come from various fields such as history, natural and social sciences, visual arts, and technology. Based on the proposals of the thematic advisory group, the ECB will decide on a shortlist of possible themes and will invite the public, including Croatian citizens, to choose their preferred themes that made it to the shortlist. The ECB’s Governing Council will then select a new theme taking into account public opinion – they say in the CNB.

After selecting a new theme, the design phase will follow. Representatives from each euro area country will participate in this phase, which also includes announcing a design competition. After that, the public will be consulted again about the proposals. The ECB’s Governing Council, they say, will make a final decision on the new design of euro banknotes, and after the design process is completed, the Governing Council will decide on the production of new banknotes and potential issuance dates.

The Transformation Process

Let us remind you that the current design of euro banknotes is based on the theme ‘ages and styles’, represented by windows, doors, and bridges.

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—– Euro banknotes are here to stay. They are a tangible and visible symbol that we stand together in Europe, especially in times of crisis, and that there is still a great demand for them. After twenty years, it is time to revise the appearance of our banknotes to make them more suitable for Europeans of all ages and backgrounds – said ECB President Christine Lagarde while announcing the redesign.

The initiation of this process follows the ECB’s commitment to ensure innovative and secure banknotes that connect Europeans in one way or another. A previous study on consumer attitudes towards payments in the euro area (SPACE) showed that cash remains overwhelmingly the most popular means of payment for personal payments in retail in 2019. Despite the rise of cashless payments during the pandemic, the demand for cash has increased due to the key role of cash as a form of savings.

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In its ‘Cash 2030’ strategy, the euro system is taking concrete steps to ensure that cash will continue to be available and accepted as a means of payment in the future, even after a possible launch of a digital euro.

– We want to develop euro banknotes that European citizens can identify with and that they will proudly use as their money. The redesign process of euro banknotes will run parallel to our exploration of the digital euro. The goal of both projects is to fulfill our mandate to provide safe and secure money to Europeans – said then ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta.

Domaća iskustva

Regarding the appearance of the new banknotes, Dr. Vilko Žiljak, emeritus professor, who, along with Miroslav and Šimun Šutej, is the author of the conceptual design of the Croatian kuna banknotes, believes they should be a surprise, attractive, and ‘awaken a desire for viewing and interest; like some special image, previously unseen, full of novelty’.

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Dr. sc. Vilko Žiljak

—– Zagreb once housed the only higher education institution for graphic technology in the former state. Today, we produce security printing with a large number of innovative solutions. We have innovations with numerous world awards, we are in line with the trends of advanced printing technologies, and the design of the entire security printing program for Croatia was carried out in Zagreb in 1991. The rules in document production must not be bypassed; all knowledge and skills are always at a world-class level – Žiljak told us.

He emphasized that each banknote has been refined from its inception to today in every subsequent edition: new patents, innovations, new anti-counterfeiting technologies, new printing techniques…

– We are witnessing changes in our kuna. The planning of securities involves a range of areas; new knowledge about materials such as paper, inks, and plastics, observed through visual technologies from physics and digital graphics. There is also microtext that conceals the design authors, their strokes, and according to new proposals, introduces us into the light area only for instrumental recognition – Žiljak enumerated.

He noted that it is very important to listen to financial experts, understand the reasons for their requests, discuss with them the tradition of content on securities, user expectations, and many other elements. Here, Žiljak points out, it is about printing technology, the production of special materials such as micro-lenses and various holography simulations. Explanations of the advantages of ‘complex multilayer coatings of alternating inks, foils, and innovative graphic solutions’ are also necessary.

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Boris Podobnik

foto Ratko Mavar

—– Fortunately, in 2021, only 12 counterfeits were found among a million genuine euro banknotes, which is about 350,000 banknotes. It is believed that the New Zealand currency is the hardest to counterfeit because it is made of polymer, so that may be one direction of protection. It is clear that it is not a problem to spot a counterfeit if you have sufficiently powerful equipment, but if it is too expensive, you cannot expect every store to have it – emphasized physicist and economist Boris Podobnik.

Explaining his view on the redesign of euro banknotes, Podobnik also reflected on the future of cash in a world that increasingly insists on digital payment methods.

– If paper money survives, it will survive because of the older people who do not like new technologies. You also have a group of poorer people who do not have mobile phones, nor are they financially strong enough to have bank accounts. There are also customers who do not trust anyone, and generally do not trust online payments and do not like to pay card fees. Perhaps the most loyal lovers of paper are criminals, smugglers, terrorists, but also everyone who has come to money in not-so-legal ways. The latter have been exchanging kunas for euros at unfavorable rates in exchange offices in the last days of the previous year. That is the sacrifice that lovers of paper money are willing to make – added Podobnik.

Has Paper Done Its Job?

Podobnik believes that ‘paper’ money may remain present as community currency, considering that proponents of paper kuna can organize local communities that exchange kuna as their local currency, as is the practice in Switzerland and America and many other countries. Technological progress, he emphasizes, cannot be stopped, and paper, as an ancient invention of the Chinese, has done its job. He reminds that the first competitors to paper money were cards, and now many have already started paying contactlessly using apps like Apple Pay or Google Pay through their mobile devices.

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– When I was in Shanghai just under ten years ago, I was practically the only person paying with paper money in stores. Workers in dirty work uniforms were paying with their phones, even homeless people were receiving alms via barcode. In America, at least 30 percent of citizens do not carry cash because they use e-commerce or fintech, and 75 percent of shoppers do not have more than 50 dollars in their wallets. Just look at this problem with rounding prices; that can only be a problem when you use cash – added Podobnik.

Above-Average Values

Boris Ljubičić, an award-winning designer known for his persistent advocacy for promoting Croatian identity based on squares, tried to compete in the first round of the competition for the last euro banknotes at the beginning of the millennium, but was rejected because Croatia had not yet applied for EU membership at that time. He explains that a banknote is a special print on special paper, but that does not yet give it real value.

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Pet eura by Boris Ljubičić

—– The design of the motif and its visualization are valuable elements of the banknote. This is the so-called art image or graphic that is carried in the wallet. The current euro banknotes are the worst designed banknotes with unrecognizable motifs and their graphic solutions. The difference in color and size along with the number they carry is their only visual identity. Europe is the most civilized, modern, and culturally strongest continent, but euro banknotes do not show this in any way. In its culture, art, design, and science in contemporary and historical times, it has values ahead of all others – explained Boris Ljubičić to us.

He added that Croatia, now a full member of the euro area, has top experts among the members of the Croatian Designers Society (HDD) who can design banknotes well.