After it objected to a decision in March by Belgium to introduce a new 2-euro coin to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s ignominious defeat at Waterloo, the Belgians retreated, scrapping 180,000 coins they had already minted.
This week Belgium decided to circumvent French resistance by invoking an unlikely European Union rule that allows countries to issue euro coins of their choice, provided they are in an irregular denomination.
It unveiled a 2.50 euro coin — a first in Belgium — and has now begun minting 70,000 of them. They display a monument of a lion atop a cone-shaped hill on the site of France’s humiliation.
Johan Van Overtveldt, the Belgian finance minister, insisted on Monday that the new coins were not meant to provoke Gallic anger.
France protested Belgium’s plans for its original coin by saying that basking in France’s defeat threatened to undermine European unity, troubled enough already. The 2-euro coin, it said, could spur an “unfavorable reaction in France.”
France protested Belgium’s plans for its original coin by saying that basking in France’s defeat threatened to undermine European unity, troubled enough already. The 2-euro coin, it said, could spur an “unfavorable reaction in France.”
France protested Belgium’s plans for its original coin by saying that basking in France’s defeat threatened to undermine European unity, troubled enough already. The 2-euro coin, it said, could spur an “unfavorable reaction in France.”
