The Federal Association of German Money and Value Services (BDGW) expressly welcomes the Europe-wide letter campaign on the EU Cash Regulation, which calls for concrete measures to protect cash. The background to this is the current draft from the European Commission, which, in the opinion of many experts, does not take sufficient precautions against the creeping abolition of cash. The letter-writing campaign is part of an initiative launched by Hansjörg Stützle to effectively safeguard the acceptance and availability of cash, which includes a petition to preserve cash as a means of payment.
In May, an open letter was sent to the finance ministries of all 20 eurozone countries and to the European Central Bank. The reason for this is the upcoming decision in the EU Council of Ministers on the proposed regulations on cash and the digital euro. The EU Commission’s current draft cash regulation offers only symbolic protection and allows for deviations and numerous exceptions to the obligation to accept cash. Furthermore, it would not prevent the continued removal of ATMs and the closure of bank branches. In addition, the letter calls for legal clarification of the equal treatment of cash and the digital euro. To this end, a binding obligation to accept cash, clear access requirements and sanctions for non-compliance should be included in the regulation.
‘In its planned form, the digital euro could replace cash through network effects. Without clearly defined legal and infrastructural guarantees, there is still a risk of a creeping withdrawal of cash,’ Michael Mewes, Chairman of the BDGW, continued.
Cash advocates, such as the BDGW, want to raise awareness of the need for balanced regulation to preserve cash as the ultimate means of payment guaranteed by the state and hope for significant improvements to the draft regulation in the further legislative process.
The debate on the cash regulation must therefore be used to establish binding framework conditions for the preservation of cash as a state-guaranteed means of payment.
