Montenegro euros?

WCGDon

Does anyone know if we can expect custom euro designs for Montenegro in the near future?

Sapyx

The euro is the official currency in Montenegro, but this was a unilateral decision made by the Montenegrin government. Montenegro is not a European Union member-state, and the EU would actually prefer that countries that are not EU members not go around unilaterally adopting the euro, but in practice there's nothing much they can do to prevent it. Kosovo likewise unilaterally adopted the euro when it became independent.

The European Central bank maintains complete control over the use of the word "euro" on coins and the styles and designs of circulation euro coinage. To issue euro coins, either "circulation type" or NCLT for collectors, a country needs to either:
(a) join the European Union and go through the ERM process of bringing their economy up to European standard, or
(b) sign a formal agreement with the European Union.

Most of eastern Europe not yet in the Eurozone is currently struggling through option (a). Montenegro officially became a candidate for future admission to the EU only last year. The only countries that have so far been allowed to choose option (b) are the three non-EU countries that formerly had similar currency agreements with pre-euro EU members: Monaco (with France), and San Marino and Vatican City (with Italy). The ECB has made it clear that those were special cases and it won't really consider granting any further non-EU euro-issuing permits.

I'm not sure exactly what is stopping a non-EU member state from unilaterally issuing "euro" coins - or coins sufficiently euro-like such as to cause confusion. The EU would probably impose sanctions or some such, which most non-EU European countries would want to avoid. Countries in the process of applying for EU membership (like Montenegro) certainly wouldn't want to get the rest of the Eurozone mad.

Given the abysmal state of the Montenegrin economy at the moment (of the 33 criteria the EU has laid down before a country can join, Montenegro currently only meets 8), I'd say the prospects of Montenegrin euro coinage within this decade are quite low.