Against this background we very much welcome the positive steps undertaken over recent months by several governments and Parliaments in the euro area and we strongly encourage them to continue and intensify these efforts. Issues related to euro banknotes Let me now highlight a few issues related to the experience with euro banknotes during the first couple of years.
Since the introduction of the euro banknotes and coins on 1 January 2002, circulation has steadily increased. Indeed, by end-August 2004 some 9 billion banknotes with a value of EUR 460 billion were in circulation, an increase of 10% in terms of volume and 18% in terms of value compared with circulation one year earlier.