In some countries, domestic and independent payment solutions are very successful while in others, the payment services are offered and processed by non-EU service providers. How can the private sector reduce this imbalance ?
Stéphanie Yon-Courtin: Today’s imbalance is about scale. The European payments market remains deeply fragmented, while everyday transactions increasingly depend on two non-European players. This is not strategically sustainable.
The private sector has a clear responsibility: move to a truly European scale. We need interoperability, shared infrastructures, and a genuine single market for payments. As long as we remain a patchwork of national systems, we will stay dependent on Visa, Mastercard, and US Big Tech.
But while the private sectors builds those iniatives we need to have an operational system in the eurozone countries, nowPrivate initiatives are emerging, but too slowly to close the gap at this stage. That is precisely why we need the digital euro: it fills the gap without crowding out private initiatives.
Martina Weimert: The imbalance exists in some markets, but it is not inevitable. Europe has strong domestic payment solutions, trusted by consumers and merchants. The issue is that they have largely remained national, while non-European players have built scale across borders.
Making Europe sovereign and resilient in payments by creating competitive and attractive pan-European alternatives to non-EU actors is the new challenge in times of geopolitical uncertainty. This is what the private sector is currently striving to achieve.
We need interoperability, shared infrastructures, and a genuine single market for payments
With Wero, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) is developing a pan-European account-to-account (A2A) payment solution – based on instant payments and leveraging European sovereign standards and infrastructure – designed to scale progressively across use cases and geographies, from person-to-person payments to e-commerce and point of sale. We have already equipped more than 53 million users in 5 EU countries, and through interoperability with other European A2A solutions, part of the EuroPA alliance, we will soon provide 130 million citizens cross-border reach over 13 EU member states.
Europe needs effective, well-functioning solutions now to meet the current sovereignty challenge.
How do you think the Digital euro could fit within the existing fragmented landscape? Should it be seen as a “back-up” solution?
SYC: The digital euro is not a back-up solution: it is the key to our European Union’s sovereignty. We are entering an era where stable partnerships can no longer be taken for granted. As politics takes over, especially in the Unites States (US), our dependencies turn into liabilities, and they will be hit first. Today, Europeans rely heavily on just two non-EU providers, and hat is not sustainable. We need a European solution, and that solution is the digital euro.
The digital euro will not prevent private initiatives from continuing to grow, because they should also be encouraged. But it is essential that the backbone of the digital euro remains public to avoid capture by a private (and potentially American) tech giant. The Libra project launched by Facebook/Meta back in time showed the risks of creating a new form of dependency in an area that is at the very core of our monetary sovereignty.
The digital euro is therefore a concrete step towards reducing Europe’s strategic dependence while preserving democratic control over critical financial infrastructure.
Making Europe sovereign and resilient in payments by creating competitive and attractive pan-European alternatives to non-EU actors is the new challenge in times of geopolitical uncertainty
MW: The digital euro could play a role, ideally if it is designed to complement the European payments ecosystem, not competing with or duplicating what is already being built by the private sector.
If the digital euro covers the same use cases as existing private solutions, with legal tender status, mandatory acceptance and a separate acceptance network, it would not be neutral. It would create major competitive distortions and could weaken all European initiatives that are already servicing successfully the European market.
The EU faces a sovereignty challenge now and the digital euro will still need years before it can roll out. Private solutions like Wero are already operational, hence can cover the need and scale faster through their own expansion and interoperability. The digital euro should therefore be focused on what only public money can provide: resilience and a public monetary anchor with the digital version of Euro cash. It should not appear as a new competitor to European solutions in a mature digital market.
The right approach is simple in our view: reuse the European infrastructure and standards that exist for cost efficiency, provide use cases that the private sector does not cover and cooperate with European solutions, and ensure that the digital euro strengthens Europe’s private payment champions.
If the Digital euro was to be a “back up” solution, how could the private sector already run solutions to support the Digital euro project and secure its launch and acceptability by the EU citizens?
SYC: The digital euro is the solution we need today, while we wait for private initiatives to reach the same scale. This is not a black-and-white debate: digital euro versus private initiatives. The digital euro and private initiatives can and must coexist, one does not exclude the other.
The digital euro is not a back-up solution: it is the key to our European Union’s sovereignty
This is why the private sector has a key role to play in launching this project and fostering acceptance among citizens. A credible digital euro cannot rely on US-based infrastructures or Big Tech wallets to reach Europeans, it needs to be distributed by Europeans. European banks and payment providers must lead the way: integrating the digital euro into their services, developing innovative use cases, and reducing our structural dependence on non-European platforms that currently control most payment interfaces and data flows.
This is about our economic sovereignty. Either we build a fully European payments ecosystem, or we accept long-term dependence on infrastructures we do not control.
MW: Citizens will not adopt a payment solution just because it is institutionally imposed. Let’s not forget that all international solutions will continue to be in the European market and compete for consumer adoption with all the features they offer. Consumers trust their current payment solutions; hence the digital euro should be integrated in the future in the existing solutions, proposed by trusted European banks and European service providers, and integrated into a known environment.
That is why the private sector proposes integrating the digital euro into the existing solutions provided by European banks and PSPs, which possess the necessary expertise in managing customer interfaces and client-facing services, as well as the operational experience required to drive adoption.
Ideally the digital euro should rely on existing standards, instant payment infrastructure and existing distribution channels. It should avoid imposing new or additional standards and optimize costs for all market stakeholders that have already made massive investments and had to make their choices for the services design and standards which are already in their roll out phases. Otherwise, the additional investment will be very heavy for the European economy.
If policymakers proceed with the digital euro, the best approach should be phased and pragmatic: limit the initial scope to simple immediate payments, ensure fair competition regarding the compensation model, and position it as support layer for Europe’s payment ecosystem. What would this mean in practical terms? The European acceptance network for the digital euro, including its legal tender status, should also be open to other European solutions. After all, wouldn’t it accelerate European sovereignty if all European solutions could benefit from it? Otherwise, we risk using public resources to create competition between European public and private solutions.
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