History
In the second half of 2008, France held the presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Monnaie de Paris struck a 2-Euro commemorative coin for the occasion, put into circulation on July 1, 2008, the first day of this presidency: the coin was therefore available from the start.
Its design is simple: the text "2008 FRENCH PRESIDENCY EUROPEAN UNION RF," surrounded by the twelve stars, with no portrait or decoration. Nothing but the event and the Republic's emblem, legible at a glance.
For a collector of political history, this is an institutional coin rather than a personal one: it marks a period of French state responsibility on a European scale, and naturally fits alongside other French 2-Euro commemorative coins. It tells the story of a presidency, not a man: the subject is an institution.
