Congratulations to the opposition in the Slovak parliament and to the authorities of the Slovak Central Bank who, after much pressure from a populace (and a Catholic hierarchy) that was under Soviet Communism just a few short years ago, decided to press on with the special 2-euro coin for the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of the holy apostles of the Slavs, Saints Cyril and Methodius, in Great Moravia, and the beginning of the translation of the Bible in the local language.
From The Slovak Spectator:
26 Nov 2012
The €2 coins which will commemorate the 1,150th anniversary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Great Moravia, set to be released in 2013, will contain the religious symbols that were originally proposed, the TASR newswire reported on November 23.
“The NBS [National Bank of Slovakia, country’s central bank – ed. note] Bank Council approved the original proposal of the design, even though it realises that the new approval process may lead to frustrating the original goal of releasing the commemorative coin throughout the 17-nation eurozone,” said spokesperson for the bank Petra Pauerová, as quoted by TASR.
The European Commission earlier stated that the commemorative coin cannot contain crosses and halos in order to observe the principle of religious neutrality in the European Union. Later it was revealed that it was not the EC as such, but certain eurozone members that objected to releasing the coin with religious symbols.
