Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness.
On the 1st of January 2023, the Republic of Croatia adopted the Euro as its currency. It joined a currency union that stretches across the continent where around 350 million people use the same money. Well, not quite exactly the same. When a country joins, they are able to mint their own Euro coins, with a national design on one side. A coin that can be used wherever Euros are accepted.
This is all glorious stuff for a nerd like me. Whenever travelling in a country that uses the Euro, it is impossible for me to not check my change whenever I receive it. Going through the coins and trying to identify where they come from by the designs is a sad little game enjoyed by many geopolitical ̶l̶o̶s̶e̶r̶s̶ sexy geniuses like myself. And all worth it for the thrill of excitement when you find a Latvian Euro in among your Parisian changes.
What countries pick for their national side is entirely up to them. Monarchies tend to stick the face of their Royal leader on the coins. National symbols and historical figures feature on others, while a few countries tried to ease the transition by keeping designs from their pre-Euro currency. Greece takes the last option to an extreme, recreating an owl design found on coins dating back to the 4th Century BCE.
So when Croatia came to select their own Euro designs in advance of the launch, they opted to push for a mix of national symbols, an outline of the country and the national animal. And left one spot open for a famous historical figure. After some deliberation they chose Nikola Tesla, born in Smiljan in what is now Western Croatia.
Elon Musk is doing his very best to besmirch the good name of Tesla by associating it with his own car company and its efforts to churn out variants based on designs rejected by Homer Simpson. Which is a huge shame, because the real-life story of Tesla is fascinating. I won’t dwell on it here, but it’s definitely an internet rabbit hole I recommend falling into. Suffice it to say, compared to some of the folk who get on the coins by way of genetic flukery, he’s a figure that deserves to feature on money. Film fans might also be aware of Tesla from Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige where he was played by David Bowie.
Only that’s where the controversy starts. Because while he most certainly deserves to be on currency, it does raise the thorny question of whose currency. Because Tesla’s parents were Serbian Orthodox, and he seems to have identified as “Serbian”. And when he was born, his home town sat within the borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
All of which led the Serbian government to angrily complain at the design. Croatia, they argued, was ‘stealing’ one of their national icons. Ambassadors were summoned and EU institutions were lobbied to prevent the choice. Under the current rules, existing EU members can indeed veto another EU member’s proposed designs if they feel it is a challenge to their own national identity. There’s only one problem here, Serbia isn’t in the EU. So Tesla went on the coins, and the head of the Croatian National Bank was to remark that if Serbia ever joined the EU and the Eurozone they wouldn’t have a problem with Serbia also sticking Tesla on their Euro coins. A remark that can be read as conveying a genuine sentiment of shared cultural history, or a fine piece of shithousery over their inability to join the club.
So Tesla is now on Euro coins, and as the years go by, they will spread across the Eurozone in the coins. And I can’t lie: should I even find one in my change as I travel around Europe, I will be absurdly excited. Even if I know that it’s an excitement those around me in the shop will find baffling and just a tiny bit sad.
A Damn Fine Cup of Culture 
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