New Euros

From Deutsche Welle:
"EU to introduce new anti-counterfeit euro bills"

Beginning next year, the European Central Bank (ECB) will gradually replace current euro notes with new banknotes with improved safety features. However, counterfeiters are unlikely to be deterred for long.  Counterfeit banknotes are in circulation all over Europe. They're being used every day, not just by criminals but also by innocent citizens, for ordinary transactions in shops or hotels. Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has announced that the total value of counterfeit currency confiscated by police in 2011 amounted to about 6.5 million euros ($8.3 million). The ECB plans to start rolling out new notes, beginning in 2013. The reason for this is not, however, that forged banknotes are causing inflation because a larger amount of money appears to be in circulation.

Schäfer explains that the central bank has developed a new generation of bills to "make life as hard as possible" for counterfeiters.  Current euro notes have been in use for about ten years now. Many are torn or worn thin and need to be replaced anyway, so when rolling out new bills banks take the opportunity to revise the notes' security features.

^ I can understand changing the bills every now and then to prevent counterfeiting, but don't think it's a good idea to force people to turn in their old bills in and get the new bills. When the US changes it's currency the old and the new bills circulate alongside each other and it is up to the businesses or the banks to turn in the old bills to the government to be destroyed. That makes a lot more sense than having every citizen stand in line at a bank and exchange them. Germany forced its citizens to do that 10 years ago when the Euro was introduced. I have a good amount of Euros from all my travels and so I will have to exchange them. ^

http://www.dw.de/eu-to-introduce-new-anti-counterfeit-euro-bills/a-16361589