First the Historical Perspective:
Since its founding in 1993, the European Union nations have gone through a mega transformation while retaining separate legal identities, their main issue.
The European Union has become a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe but include certain Asian and African nations.
The Treaty on the European Union formed for the purpose of allowing European nations to demonstrate unity concerning matters of commerce, people and currency. Although the individual nations of the EU retain their sovereignty, they share a common currency and support each other on matters of foreign policy. Citizens of member nations are free to travel amongst the member nations without passports and to obtain jobs and homes within member nations without having to apply for visas or special work permits.
European countries that are not part of the European Union include Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Albania, Switzerland, Turkey, Russia, Macedonia and Montenegro. Of these, two countries, Russia and Turkey, straddle Europe and Asia.
Although Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are not members of the EU, they have agreements with the EU that allow their citizens to live and work in member countries without work permits. Switzerland has a similar agreement, though its agreement is slightly more limited. The decision about whether to permit Turkish citizens to live and work within member countries of the EU is left to the individual member nations.
In Europe, each nation has its own currency, with the euro being the most widely used currency across the continent.
Currently, the euro is primarily used by 20 out of 27 European Union member states.
The Eurozone is where the euro is the main unit of currency and considered to be used by most countries in the European Union. As of January 2023, a total of 20 full members of the European Union have designated the euro as their primary currency with Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Kosovo, and Montenegro, having adopted the euro unofficially and six nations are in the process of completing the prerequisites for the euro to be their primary currency.
In addition, a handful of non-EU countries and several territories with ties to EU countries (particularly France) have also adopted the euro.
However, countries like Denmark and the United Kingdom have opted out of the eurozone, using their own national currencies instead.
The Euro
The euro was officially named in 1995, and it was introduced as an accounting currency in 1999. In 2002, the first physical banknotes and coins that were issued in euros entered circulation, and a few months later, it replaced the former currencies of many EU member nations.
RARE First Edition 2002 20 euro cent coin
This rare First Edition2002 Greek 20 euro cent coin's reverse side has a portrait of Ioannis Capodistrias (1776-1831), a leading national and European politician and diplomat who became the first Governor of Greece (1830-31) following the Greek War of Independence (1821-27) and fighting foreign oppression and the Ottoman Empire and was assasinated in 1831.
The obverse side on the left, next to the face value, there's the symbolic map of the European Union nations with twelve vertical stars, founded in 1993.
The map is not geographical since there is space between the borders of each nations of the Europe, keeping them legally separate, one of their main issues.
This coin is a valuable first edition and a great addition to any coin collection, especially for a coin collector who appeciates the European Union's numismatic hisotry.