In adopting the report by Mrs SOLTWEDEL-SCHAEFFER (Greens, D), the European Parliament supported its rapporteur and asked that the coinage system should not include the 0.02 and 0.2 coins as the denominations 0.01/0.10 and 1.00 were the pillars of a decimal system. It wanted to reduce the future euro coinage system from eight to six coins and believed that this was only possible by doing away with the proposed 0.02 and 0.20 euro denominations.
Parliament also agreed that the coins should have both a European and a national side.
In a general manner, it proposed an amendment to the coins' diametre in millimetres. It also felt that it was important to exclude the use of nickel in the alloys of the surface of the coins, in other words, in any parts which were in contact with the skin of the users.
Parliament pointed out that the new European single coinage system should induce public confidence and entail technological innovations that would establish it as a secure, reliable and an efficient system. It stressed that the number of denominations together with their face value should be based on all the Member States' experience with their most commonly used petty coins. Consideration should also be given to the increased use of electronic commerce and the views of the blind and of old people.
Finally, the coins ought to be made of a material which can be recycled easily, such as stainless steel.
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