The counterfeiting of the single European currency (euro)

the legal treatment in the European Union

Abstract

The present article contains, initially, a brief history of currency counterfeiting in the context of regional cooperations or integrations, customs unions and, mainly, the USA. It then presents an analysis of currency counterfeiting as a transnational crime and the respective treatment it received in the Geneva Convention of 1929. It also refers to the situation of counterfeiting of international reserves and monetary transactions — mainly regarding the use and counterfeiting of the dollar abroad, and the respective combat policies. It also reveals the gradual development of regional economic integration in Europe up to the adoption of a single currency (euro) and the respective loss of monetary jurisdiction by the Member States to the European System of Central Banks. Finally, it outlines considerations regarding the counterfeiting of the single European currency, but specifically on who has competence to criminally protect the euro, how the criminal policies of the Member States and the European Union are defined, and the question of whether the criminal protection of the euro is the basis for EU criminal competence.