Production of the pilot series started in September 1998 and was completed a few months ago. The printing of this pilot series involved the production of several million banknotes under normal operating conditions. This was a success and we therefore agreed that the participating national central banks could release their printing orders.
The number of euro banknotes to be printed for the 11 participating Member States before the launch – which will take place exactly 900 days from today – is estimated at 13 billion.