Winning entry for Croatia's first one-euro withdrawn after plagiarism allegations

A woman passes a sign on the building of Croatian National Bank in downtown of Zagreb, Croatia, February 7, 2022. REUTERS/Antonio Bronic

ZAGREB (Reuters) - The designer who won a competition last week for creating Croatia's first one-euro coin said on Monday that he was withdrawing his entry and returning the prize money after social media users suggested that the image was plagiarised.

The central bank held the design competition as part of its preparations for Croatia adopting the euro as its currency, which it hopes to do in January 2023.