Euro Design Survey Draws Record-Breaking Voter Turnout

The European Central Bank (ECB) is redesigning the euro notes and has asked the public to help choose one of 10 candidate designs. Six million people voted for their favourite design in the first week of the survey launched by the ECB in July, which translates to one million votes per day.

Professor Maria Demertzis, a professor of Economic Policy at the European University Institute, Florence, participated in the survey with her family and was not surprised by Europeans' keen interest in having a say in what the next generation of their money should look like.

Demertzis' two teenage sons, part of the TikTok generation, were also keen to vote, despite having little to no opportunities to touch physical cash. They told Demertzis that they do have emergency cash and this is as much their money as anyone else's.

Their preference for birds and rivers over people and living civic spaces was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Demertzis notes that water and nature are forever, while people are ephemeral and cannot represent a vast and varied public.