In article writes:
....
Like Italian 500 lire coins, French 10 or 20 francs,
and Greece had some 50 drachmes pieces of that kind.

There has never been a standard design French 20 francs piece. Nevertheless,
I have found two different ones in circulation (most people did not use
them at all). On the other hand, not all the French 10 francs pieces matched
the standard circulation coin, but they co-circulated with the standard type.

Would you consider
them commemoratives or not? :-)

I think they all are commemoratives, indeed. I put the line between
circulating commemoratives and commemoratives that are never intended
to circulate, and will probably never circulate. If I can obtain a
Dutch commemorative at face value at the post office, I will buy one.
If I can get such a coin only at much above face, I abstain. There is
no way to get the Vatican and San Marino commem's even at close to face.

Almost all countries in Europe have issued circulating commemoratives
(even Ireland, which, I think, has been the most restrained, with their
Dublin millenium 50 p).

BTW, I have only some very vague ideas about why the EU would restrict
the number of commemoratives. I think it has to do with "dead" money.
--
dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj amsterdam, nederland, +31205924131
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn amsterdam, nederland; http://www.cwi.nl/~dik/