Yesterday, at a meeting of the Coordination Council for Bulgaria's preparation for Eurozone membership, the artistic projects for the design of the Bulgarian national side of the euro coins of all denominations, approved by the Management Board of the Bulgarian National Bank, were adopted: 1 euro cent; 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro cents; 1 euro and 2 euro.

Euro coins have a common side and a national side. The design of the common sides of the coins is by Luc Luycx of the Royal Belgian Mint. They feature images of the European Union or of Europe, symbolizing the unity of the EU.

According to the regulatory requirements, each national side of the euro coins includes mandatory and optional details.

The mandatory elements included in the design of the national side of the Bulgarian euro coins are:

• depiction of a circle of 12 stars, as it is on the flag of the European Union;
• Cyrillic writing of the word "BULGARIA" (БЪЛГАРИЯ) as the designation of the issuing country;
• for the Bulgarian euro coins of 2 euros - an inscription written sequentially on the side, with "GOD PROTECT BULGARIA" (БОЖЕ ПАЗИ БЪЛГАРИЯ) written on one half, and the same inscription written upside down on the second half.

Selected optional elements included in the design of the national side of the Bulgarian euro coins are:

• Cyrillic writing of the word "euro" (евро) on the 1 and 2 euro coins, "cent" (стотинка) on the 1 euro cent coin and "cents" (стотинки) on the 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro cent coins; and
• writing of the year of introduction of the euro in Bulgaria "2025".

For the main elements of the design of the national side of the Bulgarian euro coins, the design of the current Bulgarian exchange coins is reproduced:

• Madara Rider - on coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro cents;
• St. Ivan Rilski - on a 1 euro coin;
• Paisius of Hilendar – on a 2 euro coin.

The reasons for this are that the symbols on the current Bulgarian exchange coins are established and well accepted by the citizens of Bulgaria.

The artistic projects were made by Moneten Dvor EAD.

The artistic projects are to be submitted for approval by the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the member states of the Eurozone. After their approval, these projects will be used for the production of Euro coins with the Bulgarian national side.

In implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Bulgaria, the member states of the euro area, and the European Commission for the start of the production of euro coins and for the preparatory tasks before the start of production, initially 8 nominal euro coins with the Bulgarian national side will be produced in an amount of up to 1 million for each denomination for testing the quality of the produced coins and certification of the Bulgarian Mint.

The actual production of the necessary quantities of euro coins with a Bulgarian national side will take place after the Decision of the Council of the European Union on the adoption of the euro by Bulgaria.