The European Commission has opened the door to the disappearance of one and two cents coins.
The Commission has “opened the debate about the smallest coins of the European currency and has proposed four alternatives including that the coins continue to be produced and circulated.
Other proposals include producing the coins with a cheaper material to cut production costs; a rapid withdrawal of the coins and a cessation of production; and finally a slow withdrawal of the coins over a long period of time.
The Commission claim the production costs of the coins outweigh their actual value: a cost which is shouldered by individual member countries.
Small change represents half of the coins in circulation in the euro zone and they are often “lost or unused” because people consider them valueless and do not use them as payment. However, the move may be resisted by residents of the euro zone who fear higher prices and a “rounding upwards” of prices.
Since the introduction of the single currency in January 2002 the countries in the euro zone have produced 45,800 million one and two cent coins which represents 137 coins per resident.
