ECB Unveils Shortlist of New Euro Banknote Designs for Public Vote

The European Central Bank unveiled a shortlist of ten designs for future euro banknotes and opened a public consultation, part of a long-running effort to refresh the currency and roll out more secure cash. The candidate designs are grouped under two themes, 'European culture' and 'Rivers and birds', and will now be put to public debate, with Europeans invited to share feedback through a survey open until 21 September. President Christine Lagarde said the central bank expects to select a winning design by the end of the year. The redesign is aimed at strengthening the security features of physical euro notes to stay ahead of counterfeiting, while also modernising imagery that has remained largely unchanged since the euro's launch. Cash remains widely used across the euro area even as digital payments grow, and the ECB has emphasised its commitment to keeping banknotes available and trusted. The exercise runs alongside the central bank's parallel work on a potential digital euro, which officials have stressed would complement rather than replace physical cash. Once a design is chosen, production and issuance of the new notes would follow over the subsequent years.