5 Euros

The ECB was formally established in June 1998, but the euro banknotes themselves weren't issued until January 2002 — meaning no 5 Euro note bearing a 1998 date entered circulation in that year. The date printed on euro notes of the first series refers to the year the ECB was granted its mandate, a deliberate political choice to anchor the currency's legitimacy to the institution's founding rather than to the actual print run, which occurred years later.

Paper composition was phased out in favor of pure cotton fiber substrate well before the Europa series redesign in 2013.