Brussels, 28/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - Nearly 100,000 forged coins were seized and withdrawn from circulation last year, states the Commission's 2005 report on combating counterfeit euro coins. This figure is very low compared to the number of euro coins in circulation (63 billion) and to the amount of counterfeiting of the old national currencies, but it does show increased diversification and sophistication of false coins. In 2004, a little over 74,000 forged coins had been taken out of circulation, which means a rise of 29% in seizures from one year to the next. Like the previous year, three forgery workshops were discovered and closed by the authorities in 2005 (in Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary). To face up to this upsurge in forgery, initiatives will be pursued in favour of identifying forged coins, institutional cooperation and training, especially under the Périclès programme.