“Rivers and birds” was one of the possible themes chosen by the governing council of the European Central Bank for future euro banknotes, the ECB announced on 30 November 2023. Pictured is the goldcrest (Regulus regulus), the smallest bird in Europe. Photo: Shutterstock

“Rivers and birds” was one of the possible themes chosen by the governing council of the European Central Bank for future euro banknotes, the ECB announced on 30 November 2023. Pictured is the goldcrest (Regulus regulus), the smallest bird in Europe. Photo: Shutterstock

Following a survey regarding the public’s preferences for the seven shortlisted themes to be used on the next euro banknotes, the European Central Bank announced on 30 November that it has decided to move forward with two possible themes: “rivers and birds” and “European culture.”

The , conducted online between July and August 2023, found that the theme of “European culture” was most popular amongst euro area citizens (21%), followed by “Rivers: the waters of life in Europe” (18%) and “Birds: free, resilient, inspiring” (17%). The ECB announced the results of the survey in a press release published on 30 November.

In Luxembourg, 20% of respondents cited “European culture” as their preferred theme, 19% named “rivers” and 16% said “birds” was their preferred theme.

The ECB’s governing council has approved the combination of birds and rivers into a single nature-related theme, noted the press release.

Seven shortlisted themes

The seven shortlisted themes that the public could choose from during the survey were: “Birds: free, resilient, inspiring”; “European culture”; “European values mirrored in nature”; “Hands: together we build Europe”; “Our Europe, ourselves”; “Rivers: the waters of life in Europe”; and “The future is yours.”

Over seven in 10 respondents (71%) in Luxembourg said they liked the theme of European culture. Around two-thirds (66%) said they liked the “rivers” theme and 61% said they liked the theme of “birds.”

“We are very happy with the strong participation in our online survey,” said ECB president Christine Lagarde. “Both of the chosen themes share a common thread of connecting Europe and Europeans, and this is very much in keeping with our goal of making banknotes more relatable to people of all ages and backgrounds.”

The ECB’s plan to redesign euro banknotes, which currently feature the “ages and styles” theme, represented by windows, doorways and bridges, was announced in December 2021. The  in the process are the selection of motifs that illustrate the themes, a design competition, another citizens’ survey and the decision by the ECB’s governing council on future banknote designs (expected in 2026). “After that, it will still take some years before the first banknotes can be produced and eventually end up in our pockets,” noted the ECB.

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