New Euro Design Shortchanges Turkey
European Union countries have struck Turkey off the map of Europe as represented on new euro coins, prompting protests from some members of the European Parliament about a bias against Turkey, which wants to join the union. The European Commission had proposed a standard map of Europe that would include Turkey and other countries on the European Union’s borders, for a new series of euro coins. But the final design approved by member governments that make up the European Council excluded Turkey, whose membership in the bloc is opposed by several countries, including France. “Clearly the council is not embarrassed that the new European map should include, as well as Ukraine and Moldova, some dictatorships such as Belarus or authoritarian ones like Russia,” two European Parliament lawmakers from Italy, Marco Cappato and Marco Pannella, said in a statement. “But it refuses to feature a democratic country like Turkey, with which accession negotiations are under way.”
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