A €10 banknote could feature Ludwig van Beethoven or a kingfisher in the future. The European Central Bank has presented ten design proposals for the new euro banknotes and is allowing everyone in the euro area to give their opinion by 21 September. This is not a real vote, however. The public consultation is not a binding referendum; rather, the ECB Governing Council is expected to decide on the final design towards the end of the year. The EU decision-makers are merely seeking a snapshot of public opinion.
In any case, it will be a few more years before the new notes actually end up in people’s wallets.
Ten different designs
There are five different series to choose from for each of the two themes, “European Culture” and “Rivers and Birds”. Each design comprises six proposals for all the current denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 euros. The first theme set features well-known figures from European history on the fronts. The €5 note, for example, shows Maria Callas; Ludwig van Beethoven is planned for the €10 banknote and Marie Curie for the €20 note. The other figures are Miguel de Cervantes, Leonardo da Vinci and Bertha von Suttner. Depending on the denomination, the backs show street artists, a singing festival, a school, a library, or contemporary art and a green square where people come together.
The other theme set, by contrast, focuses on European nature, and primarily on birds native to our continent. The €5 note will feature, among other things, a wallcreeper beside a mountain spring. The kingfisher belongs on the €10 banknote and the bee-eater on the €20 note. These are followed by the white stork, the avocet and the northern gannet on the higher denominations. The backs, in contrast, show European institutions such as the European Parliament, the European Commission, the ECB and the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The motifs are not assigned to the denominations entirely at random: The “Rivers and Birds” series tells the story of a river’s journey from its source in the mountains to its mouth at the sea. The higher the denomination, the further down geographically one is in Europe.
Beethoven replaces fictional bridges
Today’s euro banknotes show bridges, gates and windows in different architectural styles. The buildings do not actually exist. This was a deliberate decision when the euro was introduced: No member state was meant to be favoured through a national building. At the time, the Austrian graphic designer Robert Kalina won the design competition.
The new series is intended to bring an end to the original idea and the cautious visual language of the current banknotes. In future, specific European figures are to be depicted, and the institutions shown are also meant to belong to political reality. The ECB wants every European to identify more strongly with the banknotes. This proposal may indeed help, but it may also trigger new debates about national belonging, historical selection and political symbolism.
A borderless Europe
The nature series, on the other hand, follows a completely different idea. Rivers do not respect national borders, and migratory birds do not either. The bird motifs are intended to portray Europe as one interconnected habitat. The jury report goes into unusual detail for this design: The birds’ calls are represented by horizontal bar structures. A vertical scale is intended to depict flight speed.
However, the new euro banknotes are not only about visual appearance and quick recognition. All the designs must incorporate certain security features, work in different sizes and be as easy as possible for people with visual impairments to recognise. The ECB also promises new and improved security features. They are intended to make authenticity checks easier and counterfeiting more difficult.
Sustainability aspects are also involved: The banknotes are meant to last longer and leave a smaller ecological footprint. The material used for today’s notes consists of cotton fibres; according to its own information, the ECB is examining durable and more environmentally friendly solutions.
The final vote is more complex
The selection process has already been under way for several years. The ECB began redesigning the banknotes at the end of 2021. Possible themes were initially discussed in focus groups, and in summer 2023 people in the euro area were able to vote on a shortlist for the first time. According to the ECB, more than 365,000 responses were received at the time. In January 2025, the ECB Governing Council established the two themes and their associated motifs, after which an EU-wide design competition began. The first call for entries received 1,241 applications from all EU member states. Twenty-five graphic designers were selected for the next round.
By 24 April 2026, the participants had submitted 39 complete proposals: 23 for “Rivers and Birds” and 16 for “European Culture”. An independent jury of 21 experts selected the ten designs that remain – five for each theme. The public consultation has now been added. It runs until 21 September 2026. At the same time, an independent polling company is surveying a representative sample of citizens from the euro area.
The ECB Governing Council will not receive a final design with a winner as a result – it will assess several sources of information and then make the decision itself. So this is not a popular vote.
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Letzte Aktualisierung am 2026-08-22 at 07:30 / Affiliate Links / Bilder von der Amazon Product Advertising API
