30 Euro (Slovene Olympic Medalist) – Slovenia

In 2012, Slovenia was grappling with the severe aftershocks of the Eurozone debt crisis, which starkly exposed the vulnerabilities of its domestic banking sector and economy. As a member of the Eurozone since 2007, the country did not have an independent monetary policy or currency to devalue; its currency situation was defined by its use of the euro. This meant that unlike some neighboring non-euro countries, Slovenia could not use exchange rate adjustments as a tool to regain competitiveness. Instead, the burden of adjustment fell entirely on internal devaluation—a painful process of cutting wages, pensions, and public spending to reduce costs and deficits.

The core of the crisis was a deeply troubled banking system, burdened by a wave of non-performing loans stemming from a post-2008 collapse in construction and a corporate debt overhang, much of it held by state-owned banks. This domestic crisis triggered a loss of investor confidence, leading to a sharp spike in the country's borrowing costs on international bond markets in 2012. Fears mounted that Slovenia, following Cyprus, would become the sixth Eurozone country to require an international bailout. While the currency itself—the euro—remained stable, the economic context was one of severe strain, with the government struggling to finance itself and reassure markets of its solvency.

In response, the center-right government of Janez Janša, which took office in early 2012, implemented aggressive austerity measures and began drafting a comprehensive strategy to clean up the banking sector. These actions, including the establishment of a "bad bank" (the Bank Asset Management Company) in 2013, were crucial in stabilizing the situation by year's end and narrowly averting a formal international bailout. Thus, 2012 was a pivotal year where Slovenia's commitment to the euro was tested not by currency fluctuation, but by the immense pressure to restore fiscal and financial stability within the constraints of a shared monetary union.