Thank you, Mr President. The reason that I am speaking is purely to support and highlight, if possible, essential elements expressed by the rapporteur of this report, our colleague Charlotte Cederschiöld, whom I congratulate for her rigorous and excellent work. I would like to start by pointing out what a revolution it is going to be when the euro appears on 1 January of next year. The euro is going to be the ultimate symbol of European identity, and along with the yen and the dollar it will be one of the guiding currencies that will be used not only in Europe but also, as our colleague said, on a global scale. It will be the cornerstone on which to build a political union. Despite all this, as the euro takes the form of a note or coin, there is obviously the very real risk that there will be attempts to counterfeit it, and as a result, prevention policies are essential. With this objective in mind, we need to work thoroughly on the need to train those who will be working daily with the currency, through courses and other measures, especially banks and bureaux de change, so that they are familiarised with the euro. They are going to be the key players in detecting counterfeit currency. Therefore, and given that the legislative proposals that we are examining today aim to regulate this matter, it is essential both that we have an effective system of police and customs cooperation and that we establish a global information system that includes identifying counterfeit notes, collecting them and sending them to centres that study the method of counterfeiting, the paper used, the ink, the amount counterfeited, etc. Finally, I would also like to emphasise the importance of effective criminal protection in order to remove any trace of counterfeiting. As I do not wish to dwell on fundamental issues that have already been discussed by Mrs Cederschiöld, such as the inconvenience and confusion caused by having legal instruments that are dependent on different pillars in order to defend the same objective, which is combating the counterfeiting of the euro- I am going to focus on two or three matters that I feel are important. One is the reference made by Amendment No 23, unlike the Regulation, which does not allude to it at all, to a counterfeit currency database. I think that this is something that would increase the efficiency and accuracy of the battle against counterfeiting. With regard to the status of the European Technical and Scientific Centre, which as established in Article 5 of the proposal for a regulation, will channel the fight against the counterfeiting of coins, I would like to stress the need to protect its independence from the Paris Mint from the start, as set out in Amendments Nos 20 and 26. The functional link of this body should be solely with the European institutions and under no circumstances with a national institution. Finally, Amendment No 27 adds to the original text of the Regulation the idea that I expressed at the start of my speech, which is the key role that those who work with money should play in the battle against counterfeiting of the euro. It is important that they be obliged not only to withdraw from circulation any notes and coins whose authenticity is questionable, but also to check for authenticity themselves. We are, of course, aware of the suspicions that this requirement could give rise to, as it would require considerable investment in tools, machines and items to ensure that the money is legal, but it is essential from the point of view of protecting citizens. It is also a guarantee that the money distributed by these bodies will be authentic.

Political group: PPE-DE