The Institut d'Émission d'Outre-Mer issued this piece to mark the eurozone's January 2002 cash changeover — an event that left France's overseas Pacific territories in an awkward position. New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna retained the CFP franc, pegged to the euro but never replaced by it, meaning the IEOM itself survived the transition that abolished its metropolitan equivalent. This coin commemorates a currency shift its issuing authority was specifically exempted from.
The Institut d'Émission d'Outre-Mer issued this piece to mark the eurozone's January 2002 cash changeover — an event that left France's overseas Pacific territories in an awkward position. New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna retained the CFP franc, pegged to the euro but never replaced by it, meaning the IEOM itself survived the transition that abolished its metropolitan equivalent. This coin commemorates a currency shift its issuing authority was specifically exempted from.