The European Central Bank's proposed redesign of euro banknotes will feature images of EU political, legal, and financial institutions on the reverse of its wildlife-themed notes, embedding the architecture of Fortress Europe directly into the currency. This move, announced by ECB chair Christine Lagarde last week, marks the first full redesign since the single currency’s paper money entered circulation 24 years ago.
Symbols of Exclusion
Philippe Geoffroy, head of section for new banknotes at the ECB, stated that the public wants “money that feels European.” He added that the redesign aims to “increase identification with the single currency and make it more graphically meaningful,” explicitly seeking to “move away from neutrality.” This shift signals a deliberate effort to solidify a particular, exclusionary European identity on the currency itself.
More than 6 million people have already voted in a survey launched to decide between cultural figures or birds and waterways. This public feedback, which closes on 21 September, will influence the ECB’s final choice at the end of 2026, alongside a second quantitative survey and a jury of designers.
The Contradiction of 'European' Identity
The 10 proposals are split evenly between five culture themes and five wildlife themes. The cultural figures include Maria Callas, Beethoven, Curie, Cervantes, Leonardo da Vinci, and Bertha von Suttner. These figures, celebrated for their contributions, often had transnational lives and careers, a stark contrast to the criminalisation of movement faced by migrants today.
Maria Callas, for instance, was born in New York but flourished in Greece and Italy. Marie Curie, who discovered radium and polonium, had a career spanning Warsaw and Paris. Bertha von Suttner, an Austrian pacifist, spent time in Prague, Tbilisi, and Vienna. These biographies highlight a historical fluidity of movement and identity that the contemporary border regime actively denies to millions.
The wildlife notes would depict birds such as the wallcreeper, kingfisher, bee-eater, white stork, avocet, and northern gannet. These species are not exclusively found in Europe, yet they are presented as symbols of a continent that increasingly restricts human migration across its internal and external lines.
The Bureaucracy of Branding
The new notes are planned for the €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, and €200 denominations. They will continue to be printed on paper rather than polymer and are not expected to enter circulation until 2030 or 2031.
The shortlisted designs were chosen from 1,241 applications received after an open call in 2025. The ECB’s selection process, involving designers like Dutch book designer Joost Grootens, German illustrator Jan Robert Dünnwelle, French artist Isabelle Daëron, and Finnish graphic designer Ville Tietäväinen, aims to create a visually distinct currency. This extensive process underscores the institutional commitment to crafting a specific European narrative, one that now explicitly includes the physical symbols of its border and financial apparatus.