2 Euros Erasmus Programme

The Erasmus Programme, launched in 1987, has funded student exchanges across Europe for over three decades — but the commemorative series marking its 35th anniversary in 2022 was issued simultaneously by every eurozone member state, each with its own national design. Greece's participation in the programme has carried particular symbolic weight since the 2010s debt crisis, during which austerity measures gutted university funding while Erasmus grants continued flowing to Greek students largely uninterrupted, underwritten by EU institutional budgets rather than the national treasury.