New €5 bank note in circulation from May 2013

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, unveiled yesterday in Frankfurt the design of the new series of five euro bank notes, called Europa, which will be introduced from the 2nd May 2013 and includes several security improvements over the initial series of bank notes which were issued in January 2002.

During an initial transition period, both series of five euro bank notes will co-exist, but the older notes will gradually be removed until they cease to be legal tender, a date which will be reported well in advance.

After the initial introduction of this new series of €5 bank notes, the ECB plans to continue introducing new varieties of other denominations gradually, in ascending order of value, over several years.