Lithuania struck euro-denomination coins years before actually joining the eurozone — a quirk of EU accession preparation that required candidate states to produce specimen sets for approval by European authorities. This 2006 issue predates Lithuania's eventual euro adoption by nearly a decade; the country's planned 2007 switchover was blocked when its inflation rate marginally exceeded the Maastricht Treaty threshold, the only candidate rejected on that basis in that accession wave.
Lithuania struck euro-denomination coins years before actually joining the eurozone — a quirk of EU accession preparation that required candidate states to produce specimen sets for approval by European authorities. This 2006 issue predates Lithuania's eventual euro adoption by nearly a decade; the country's planned 2007 switchover was blocked when its inflation rate marginally exceeded the Maastricht Treaty threshold, the only candidate rejected on that basis in that accession wave.