American military equipment on euro banknotes would be a fitting metaphor for the US-led bloc
As the European Central Bank weighs how its new euro banknotes will look, NATO’s airborne surveillance unit has a novel suggestion: plaster the European notes with images of American military hardware.
In a recent post on its Facebook page, NATO’s Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) Force shared its vision for the upcoming series of Euro notes, a US-made Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft soaring over the fields and forests of Europe. On the €20 note, the E-3 is accompanied by what appear to be two American F-16s.
“What if the new European banknotes had a little more…air superiority?” the NATO unit asked in a caption.
The post was tongue-in-cheek, but the image of American air superiority over Europe is a fitting metaphor for an organization designed, in the words of its first secretary-general, to “keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.”
NATO’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Force followed suit, posting a series of notes featuring an American RQ-4D Phoenix surveillance drone. The posts received mixed reactions online, with self-described ‘Eurasian sovereignist’ Mats Nilsson describing them as a “coordinated NATO psy-op trying to tie NATO to the EU.”
“A Boeing on a EURO banknote?” one commenter replied to NATO AWACS on Instagram. “No, thank you. Please redesign with a Saab Globaleye. It’s at least half European.”
Four Eurozone countries – Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, and Malta – are not members of NATO, while 15 of NATO’s 32 members do not use the euro.
Whether they are interpreted as tongue-in-cheek trolling or an expression of Europe’s vassal status to the US, the notes have no chance of ever being printed. The European Central Bank is currently holding a public survey on its forthcoming euro banknotes, with variants showing historical figures – including Marie Curie, Leonardo da Vinci, and Ludwig van Beethoven – and native European birds making the shortlist.
The survey closes in late September, and a winner will be chosen by the end of 2026. The notes will be printed and circulated in 2030 or 2031.
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