The inner part features a shepherd (David) drawing a sheep from a lion's maw. Two inscriptions are engraved around the design: the name of the issuing country Vatican City on the top and the topic of commemoration Year for Priests below it. The year mark is displayed to the left of the design, the mint mark at the bottom and the artist's name VEROI to the right. The twelve stars of the European Union surround the design on the outer ring of the coin.

The coin illustrates an event from the Old Testament (1 Samuel 17:33-35):

And Saul said to David, “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”

And David said unto Saul, “Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock; and I went out after him and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him, and slew him."

Artist: Guido Veroi
Engraver: Ettore Lorenzo Frapiccini (ELF, INC is the Italian abbreviation for the engraver)

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

The sequence "2 ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted