Feature: 25th anniversary of the European Monetary Institute (EMI)
Description: The inner part of the piece bears
the portrait Alexandre Lamfalussy, the first president of the EMI, on
the right with his name below. On the left-hand side, the abbreviation
EMI stands central with the year 1994 above, referring to date of the
establishment of the Institute and the designation of Lamfalussy as its
first president. Below ‘EMI’, several coins are depicted falling on each
other with the inscription €, ‘ECU’ and ‘BEF’ from top to bottom. Given
the fact that this is a Belgian issuance, we have chosen for ‘BEF’, the
abbreviation of our former national currency. The purpose of this
representation is to symbolise the transition of the national currencies
to an European single currency, the euro as the EMI’s main focus was on
establishing the European System of Central Banks, including the ECB
and the new currency On the upper part of the left side of the coin is
an inscription ‘European Monetary Institute’. As the Royal Dutch Mint
will strike the coins, the mintmark of Utrecht, a mercury staff is
located on the left with the Belgian mint director mintmark, the coat of
arms of the municipality Herzele. The country code BE and the year mark
2019 are located on the bottom. The initials LL referring to the
designer of the coin, Mr Luc Luycx, are inscribed on the right. The
coin’s outer ring bears the 12 stars of the European Union.