5 euro note used on the banknotes as a result of Bulgaria joining the European Union in 2007. Therefore, the new series of Euro banknotes will include "ЕВРО", which is the Bulgarian spelling for EURO as well as the abbreviation "ЕЦБ" (short for "Европейска централна банка" in Bulgarian). The European Central Bank will, in due time, announce when banknotes from the first series lose legal tender status. The five euro note is the smallest at with a grey colour scheme. All bank notes depict bridges, arches or doorways in a different historical European style; the five euro note shows the Classical era (up
Euro banknotes reported that 531,000 banknotes were removed from circulation in all of 2012, compared to 606,000 in the previous year. The ECB also said that, when compared to the amount of genuine banknotes, the proportion of fake euro notes remains low. The amount of counterfeits taken out of circulation in 2012 is 3.18 times that of 2002 (167,118). In July 2013, the European Central Bank said that it removed 317,000 counterfeit euro banknotes from circulation in the first half of 2013, which is an increase of 26.3% from the first half of 2012. However, the Bundesbank, in July 2013, stated that