Belgium trolled France but then fell victim to the sickest burn in EU history

Apparently, France is still mad at Belgium over the Battle of Waterloo 200 years ago. To make matters worse, tiny Belgium has just won another battle against its neighbour.

Napoleon Bonaparte's army and ambitions of empire were crushed by Duke Wellington on the outskirts of Brussels in 1815. Back in March, Belgium minted special commemorative €2 coins to mark the occasion only to be forced to scrap the idea by France, who said it would create unneccessary tension at a time when Europe's unity was under threat.

Too soon?

Imagine the French annoyance then, when on Monday Belgium began minting commemorative €2.50 coins instead, using a loophole in EU law that allows countries to issue euros in an irregular denomination as long as they are only used within the member country.

The coin war is getting heated with commentators jumping in on either side of the debate. The New York Times in particular is unimpressed with Belgium's efforts, leaping to France's side in an article that has since been amended:

Belgian finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt was quoted as saying that the new coins - of which there will be 70,000 - were not being released in a deliberate bid to anger France.

"The goal is not to revive old quarrels. In a modern Europe, there are more important things to sort out," he said.

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