European Parliament ‘testing’ support for digital euro
The European Parliament will vote today on the annual report of the European Central Bank (ECB). A passage on the digital euro was also added to that report. Although the report has no legislative power, it will show where support for the digital euro can be found.
The digital euro would be an electronic form of cash. Unlike card payments, which are private, residents would be able to use digital ‘public’ money. That public money is now only available in the form of cash. It would come as an additional means of payment on top of cash and card payments.
As the proposal currently stands, the digital euro would also have a digital wallet in which payments are untraceable.
The proposal comes in the wake of rising tensions between the European Union and the United States. It is intended to counterbalance the two forms of payment that have their home in the United States, Visa and Mastercard.
The proposal is already supported by the various countries of the European Union. Yet the digital euro proposal is currently in a political impasse. Many right-wing and far-right parties are divided over the plan. Some have even already expressed their distaste for the proposal. Spain’s far-right party Vox, for instance, already asked the European Commission to scrap the plan altogether.
Despite the aversion to the proposal among right-wing parties, there is also a lot of support for the plan. “Today we are completely dependent on the big US players, Visa and Mastercard. This makes the European Union weak and dependent on Trump’s decisions,” Italian MEP Pasquale Tridico told Euronews. “Should the US president suddenly stand up and decide to cut Europe off from digital means of payment, European citizens would no longer be able to make payments with credit cards.
Business AM
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers