Currently, EU citizens are able to vote for their favourite banknote design via the ECB. In this vein, the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence published a social media post depicting its suggestions for the designs, including a 5-euro note with an A400M military aircraft, a 20-euro note with a satellite, a tank on the 100-euro note and a machine gun on the 200-euro note. The images were generated using AI, and potentially intended to have a light-hearted tone.

"Forget alternative proposals. What about European security?" the post read.

When questioned by RTL, the Directorate of Defence confirmed it had authored the post.

But what was meant to be a small nod to the importance of defence, has instead caused uproar on social media. For example, the LSAP MP Yves Cruchten questioned whether this was the image Luxembourg wanted to present of itself, and said the Grand Duchy had never glorified weapons before. He added that it was one thing to invest in defence, but another to boast of weaponry.

Christian Schleck, president of the army union SPAL, could not find anything positive about the post. He felt the post was made in poor taste, and said the defence sector surely had other priorities.

The Directorate of Defence has yet to comment publicly on the criticism.