In accordance with the requirements of
Regulation (EU) No 331/2014 of the European Parliament and of the
Council, the Commission presents a report concerning the
implementation and the results of the Pericles 2020 programme for
the protection of the euro against counterfeiting in
2017.
The Commission considers that the 'Pericles
2020' programme continues to be an important and efficient tool
in the fight against counterfeiting. The programme forms the
basis for the support of studies, maintaining and developing
cooperation, and exchanging best practices among all actors
involved in the fight against euro counterfeiting.
Annual Work Programme
2017: the annual
budget for the implementation of the Programme for the year 2017
was set at EUR 1 047 500. Discussions of the multi-annual
strategy at the meetings of the Euro Counterfeiting Experts Group
(ECEG) made it possible to commit 99.99% of the overall budget
in 2017, and the Programme funded 13 projects in total. The
report notes the following:
-
applicants to the programme in 2017 represent six Member States, namely Italy,
Spain, Romania, Croatia, Portugal and Austria. To an extent, this
reflects the fact that the countries most affected by euro
counterfeiting are more frequent users of Pericles
funds;
- the actions for which commitments were made in
2017 (consisting of 6 seminars/conferences, 2 technical trainings,
4 staff exchanges, and 1 purchase of equipment) take place both
inside and outside the EU depending on the specific needs to
protect the euro against counterfeiting;
- the implementation of the programme in 2017
demonstrates a continuing positive trend towards an increasing
differentiation and diversification of the professional
backgrounds of participants over the years. Members from police
forces represent 42% of the total, the substantial participation of
central banks has remained nearly constant with (24%) and there is
a continuing high participation of members of the judiciary
(8%). Of particular note is the significant participation of
mints (4%), customs (4%), ministries of finance (3% and financial
institutions (3%);
- 2017 saw the implementation of 10 actions that were
committed to under previous budgets of the programme. Of
particular note is the EU China platform meeting on the
protection of currencies against counterfeiting that was held in
November 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. The action was successful in
establishing a platform of cooperation with Chinese authorities,
and treated topics such as the exchange of best practices on the
dismantling of illegal printshops and mints, the distribution of
counterfeits on the internet/darknet, and the channels for the
exchange of operational information.
The report states that the programme shows a
high degree of consistency and complementarity with other
relevant programmes and actions at Union level and echoes the
positive overall assessment regarding its EU added value,
coherence, relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and efficiency
in the mid-term evaluation (see previous summary).
Based on the results of the implementation of
the programme and the continuous analysis of
emerging threats discussed in the ECEG, the
priorities for 2018 are the following:
- supporting activities aimed at improving cooperation
among those Member States which are particularly affected by
the production and distribution of counterfeits;
- fostering cooperation with authorities of those
third countries where there is suspicion of or evidence for
counterfeit euro production;
- maintaining an efficient framework for the protection
of the euro in South Eastern Europe;
-
topical developments: technical developments within the coin processing
machines industry, the distribution of counterfeits and high
quality components on the internet and improving security features
of euro coins.