The way Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi replied to The Financial Times’ Observer column when asked what was he going to do about the fact that Malta, though making it to the euro zone, is still absent from the euro notes and coins, may have suggested to some, including this newspaper, that his was a throwaway remark rather than based on fact.

But further investigations have proved Dr Gonzi right: the new euro coins being used in Slovenia, the first of the accession countries to join the eurozone on 1 January this year, already include Malta.

And when the new series of euro notes is printed, it will include Malta as well.

This newspaper was given access to a letter from the European Central Bank to Central Bank of Malta Governor Michael C. Bonello, dated as far back as 29 July 2003 in which Mr Bonello was told: “When finalising the design specifications for the first series of euro banknotes in 1998, the European Monetary Institute and the EU central banks ensured that the member States that would potentially participate in EMU were depicted as accurately as possible on the banknotes.

Exact representations were, however, limited by the constraints of the offset printing technique. Any specific area, such as islands, smaller than 400 kilometres squared could not be reliably printed under large-scale production conditions and were therefore not represented on the map or in the cartographic boxes.

“It is only natural that, when the second series of euro banknotes is issued, all EU member States should be represented and this will be taken into account when preparing the designs for these banknotes.

“Therefore, you may rest assured that Malta will be graphically represented on the euro banknotes of the second series.”