Euro Launch…. Historical & Challenging Moments 

The huge bulk of new currency washing across Europe will make its appearance on January 1st, 2002. For two months, until the end of February 2002, the euro and the old currency will circulate together. From then on, the old currencies will cease to be legal tender. In what is considered the biggest monetary change in history, 300 million people will have to transact all their business in euros. 

It will require a huge logistical operation. Troops will be deployed for weeks beforehand to help move the 50 billion euro coins, weighing almost 240,000 tons, and the 14.5 billion banknotes from 15 printing presses across Europe. In the early hours of New Year's Day 2002, more than 200,000 cash machines will have to be converted by an army of technicians. 

There will inevitably be snags. Motorway tollbooths, telephone boxes, ticket machines and parking meters will all have to be changed. There are also fears of huge lines at supermarket checkouts and post offices counters as people pay their familiar old currencies and query the change they receive in unfamiliar euros. 

Euro and the World of Organized Crime 

There is also a fear that the euro conversion, also known as "the biggest monetary experiment in history", could benefit those operating on the wrong side of the law in three key areas: robbery, counterfeiting and money laundering 

Counterfeiters may find life easier for a while until the 300-million inhabitants of "euroland" are fully accustomed to the new notes, which come in seven different dimensions. In particular there is a significant potential for euro crime in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Far East. In Japan and Taiwan it is feared that cheap photocopies, that look real but contain no security features, would infiltrate the market. 

In particular, crime fighters are watching the high value 500-euro bill; the most valuable of the seven new notes and already nicknamed "the gangster's note". The world of organized crime likes the idea of a high-value bill and the 500-euro bill is worth more than the most expensive note in 11 of the 12 "euroland" currencies. The 500-euro is worth about $ 570 and would make it possible to pack more than 7 millions euros - $ 6.37 million - in an average briefcase. All large-denomination currencies are conducive to drug money transportation and aggregation, and therefore facilitate money laundering. 

The introduction of the euro could even speed up some existing crime rings. Gangs with stocks of counterfeit bills in the old national currencies will be under pressure to get rid of them all before March 1, 2002, when the national currencies will no longer be legal tender. And shopkeepers and authorities, eager to make the conversion, may not be as attentive to the old notes. 

However, despite all the concern over the introduction of the euro, there is also an element of confidence and security in the new notes due to their technological design. 

In fact, the design of the new currency was put to a competition, which was won by an Austrian. The notes feature generic bridges and buildings of European inspiration, but the coins have one side that is specific to the individual issuing country.  

In addition, experts from banks in all 12 "euroland" countries were pooled to produce notes the authorities hoped would be hard to reproduce illicitly. The "state-of-the-.art" anti-forgery measures in the new notes include features like fluorescent fibers, see-through registers, foil holograms, raised print, watermarks, embossed characters, metal strips, and UV security threads. In addition, the notes contain several secret security features that would make them very difficult to forage. Furthermore, various features have been built into the notes that can be checked by sensors in banknote sorting machines.  

There are also more security features being explored for the future. Scientists are looking into how they could make a chip and antenna cheaply enough to embed in 200 and 500-euro notes as well as a way of mass-printing the devices into banknotes. The idea would be to allow notes to be interrogated by special devices at a bank till, which would sound the alarm if a note were found to be stolen or counterfeit. However, the production of a note with a chip that will still work after it has been through the laundry probably remains some way off. 

At up to one dollar a piece, the devices are still probably too expensive to include in banknotes - although the cost might be reasonable for high-ticket bills, which are the most attractive to counterfeiters. More likely, the chips will first be used in tickets for entertainment and sports events, which would allow sensors to automatically check whether a ticket is valid or whether a ticket holder is entitled to enter a certain area.

Sources: 

BBC "Money Fakers Spy A Chance." BBC. December 2001. 

Muriel, Diana. "Europe's Police Challenge." Austria Today. December 19th, 2001. 

Oakley, Robin. "New Day For Europe." New Scientist. December 24th 2001. 

Perera, Rick. "Modern Money For A High-Tech World." Current Science. December 20th, 2001.