A euro coin design that cuts Turkey from the European map drew criticism from lawmakers after two members of the European Parliament raised the issue of the missing country. European Union finance ministers rejected a European Commission design that included Turkey and agreed on the new illustration in 2005. Slovenia was the first to adopt the coin in 2007.
"The commission proposed a new map and the member states took a decision," Amelia Torres, a commission spokeswoman, said Tuesday. "The design they”ve adopted, which is a more stylized design of Europe, is not exactly the one we proposed."
Turkey has made little progress toward becoming an EU member since entry talks began in 2005.
Last month, President Nicholas Sarkozy of France said he would let membership talks proceed provided the EU established a panel to chart the future of Europe.
"This is totally unacceptable," said Marco Cappato, one of two Italian Liberal lawmakers who first objected to the coin.
"They had a political move without having the courage of discussing this publicly."
