A scandal erupted over coins minted in Paris without the knowledge of the European Commission.

Destruction of “wrong” money will cost 1.2 million euros

The Paris Mint minted 27 million eurocent coins. The European Commission found them non-compliant. The fact is that the general director of the mint, Mark Schwartz, did not wait for approval of the new design to begin production, hoping for the support of the French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire.

The Paris Mint, the body responsible for minting the euro in France, has caused a major scandal in the country, which has led to the destruction of millions of coins and will cost the public institution’s budget between 700 thousand and 1.2 million euros.

Let’s remember that its CEO Mark Schwartz ordered the release of 27 million coins of 10, 20 and 50 euro cents with the new design, without waiting for the preliminary but mandatory verification of the European Commission (ECFIN), which oversees the verification of euro coins and banknotes. But this process takes seven days to wait for a response from the ECFIN CEO.

According to the information contained in the letter, the head of the Paris Mint wanted the new coins to be presented to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, on the occasion of his visit to the headquarters of the Paris Mint. The workers of the enterprise minted coins for four days in a row so that everything would be ready on the appointed day. But a few days before the ministerial visit, the new French design was replaced by a retouched image sent from Brussels. The European Commission cited the reason for the changes: the poorly visible stars on the front side representing the EU.

“An unforgivable insult to the symbol of the European Union!” says the French publication La Lettre.

After receiving the redesigned letter, the Paris Mint had to destroy the non-conforming eurocents and then urgently mint 27 million new coins. According to La Lettre, Mark Schwartz blamed the “serious typo” during the production of monetary materials on the “French state,” as the country usually calls the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

The Treasury, for its part, is trying to minimize the latest destruction and new production of millions of coins that amounted to 4 percent of the Paris Mint’s annual production.