The French media La Lettre has revealed that in November, the Monnaie de Paris minted 27 million centime coins. However, they did not wait for validation of a new design by the European Commission, which is a mandatory step. It has been reported that the CEO of Monnaie de Paris, Marc Schwartz, wanted the new coins to be presented to Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, on December 7th during his visit to the Monnaie headquarters.
Unfortunately, on December 1st, the new French design was rejected by Europe due to the continent side showing stars that were difficult to read. As a result, the millions of 10, 20, and 50 centime coins had to be destroyed, and 27 million coins had to be urgently reminted. This will cost the public institution between 700,000 € and 1.2 M€.
When contacted by La Lettre, Marc Schwartz stated that the delay was not of his own making and attributed the responsibility to the “French State”. On the other hand, the Ministry of the Economy has announced an evaluation to shed light on this incident.
