French euro coins feature three separate designs for the three series of coins. The minor series was designed by Fabienne Courtiade, the middle one by Laurent Jorio and the major two coins are by Joaquin Jimenez. All designs share the 12 stars of the EU and the year of imprint as well as the letters "RF" for République Française (French Republic).

For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins.

The following table shows the mintage quantity for all French euro coins, per denomination, per year (the numbers are represented in millions).

The Commission of the European Communities issued a recommendation on 19 December 2008, a common guideline for the national sides and the issuance of euro coins intended for circulation. One section of this recommendation stipulates that:

Since French euro coins have part of the national design outside of the 12 stars of the union, a new design on the French euro coins is expected in the near future to comply with these new guidelines, although nothing has officially been announced yet.

There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros (the euro is divided into a hundred cents). The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different designs in circulation at once. Three European microstates which use the euro as their currency also have the right to mint coins with their own designs on the obverse side.

The coins, and various commemorative coins, are minted at numerous national mints across the European Union to strict national quotas. Obverse designs are chosen nationally, while the reverse and the currency as a whole is managed by the European Central Bank (ECB).

All coins have a common reverse side showing how much the coin is worth, with a design by Belgian designer Luc Luycx. The design of the 1-, 2-, and 5-cent coins symbolises Europe's place in the world as a whole.

In 2007, a new design was introduced to reflect the enlargement in 2004. The design still retains all elements of the original designs, including the twelve stars, however the map of the fifteen states is replaced by one showing the whole of Europe as a continent, without borders. The vertical ridges only appear over the sea.