EU countries call for strengthening European payment systems
Kyiv • UNN
The six largest EU economies are calling for an accelerated introduction of the digital euro and the creation of their own payment infrastructure. This is intended to strengthen the bloc's strategic autonomy and stimulate economic growth.
The European Union's economic heavyweights are urging the bloc to reduce its reliance on foreign payment systems and accelerate the introduction of a digital euro, aiming to boost Europe's productivity and economic growth. This is reported by Bloomberg, writes UNN.
Given the urgency of sovereignty issues in the payments sector, we strongly urge the European Commission to prepare and swiftly present an ambitious and comprehensive EU strategy that will promote strategic autonomy and reduce the EU's dependence in retail, wholesale, and corporate payments.
This intervention comes as EU officials are exploring ways to lessen Europe's reliance on American payment companies such as Visa and Mastercard, which have long dominated digital payment transactions in Europe.
It is clear that we need to create a digital payment infrastructure in Europe that will allow payments to be made without any dependence.
The letter, also signed by Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain, calls for the faster implementation of a long-promised savings and investment union within the bloc, which they call an "urgent strategic necessity."
Specifically, the six countries support the Markets Integration and Supervision Package — a key element of the plan to create a savings and investment union, presented last year by the European Commission, the EU's executive body. The package includes a controversial proposal to transfer supervisory and enforcement powers to the EU markets regulator — the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), based in Paris.
Noting that investors should have better access to EU capital markets and to deeper sources of capital, the finance ministers stated that they support "a move towards centralized supervision of the 'most systemically important, significant and cross-border financial market infrastructures', while avoiding unnecessary duplication or additional costs." They also added that "supervisory responsibility and fiscal accountability must go hand in hand."
The transfer of some supervisory powers to ESMA instead of national authorities remains a point of contention for some member states, particularly Luxembourg and Ireland.
The finance ministers of both countries expressed concerns about the proposal to transform ESMA into a centralized supervisory body during a meeting of EU finance ministers earlier this week in Brussels.