Brussels, 25/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - EU citizens and residents have selected a design for a new €2 coin that will be issued next January to commemorate 10 years of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The design was selected after an online vote, in which more than 141,000 people took part, between 31 January and 22 February 2008. The design, chosen from a shortlist of five, symbolises that the euro is the latest step in the long history of trade, from pre-historic barter - evoked by the deliberately primitive design - to economic and monetary union. The winning design, which received 41.48 % of the vote, was created by George Stamatopoulos, a sculptor at the Central Bank of Greece. It is estimated that some 90 million of these coins will be put in circulation. This is the second time that all euro-area countries issue a common commemorative euro coin. The first such coin was issued in 2007 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in 2007. (A.B.)