Main / Press releases and speeches / Press releases / Commemorative two-euro coin for the 90th anniversary of Finland'..
The 90th anniversary of Finland's independence will be celebrated in December this year. The Bank of Finland will be releasing two million commemorative two-euro coins shortly before the event.
The coin was designed by the sculptor Reijo Paavilainen. The obverse side shows nine people rowing a boat with long oars, with the year 1917 above and the year 2007 below, and the national code FI to the right. The reverse side of the coin is the same as the reverse side of the ordinary coin.
A total of two million of the new commemorative coins will be struck. The Bank of Finland will issue a batch of one million through normal currency supply channels as change, while the remaining one million will be issued through Finnish commercial banks as wholesale deliveries.
Euro area countries are allowed to change the design on the national side of the two-euro coin to commemorate significant events and people. This is the fifth commemorative two-euro coin issued by Finland. The first one was issued in summer 2004 to celebrate the EU enlargement, the second in autumn 2005 for the 60th anniversary of the United Nations and 50 years of Finnish membership and the third in October 2006 to celebrate 100 years of universal suffrage in Finland; the fourth was the coin issued by all euro area countries in March 2007 for the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The commemorative coins are legal tender in all euro area countries.
Special commemorative five-euro and 100-euro coins will also be struck.
For further information, please contact Raine Vairimaa at the Ministry of Finance, tel. 358 9 160 33014. An image of the commemorative coin is available from the Media and Communication Unit at the Ministry of Finance, vm-viestinta@vm.fi.
Ministry of Finance P.O BOX 28 FIN-00023 GOVERNMENT Tel. +358 9 160 01 E-mail: valtiovarainministerio@vm.fi
