On Friday 22 May, EU finance ministers and central bankers began discussions on strengthening the competitiveness of the European Union and the growing use of stablecoins at an informal two-day meeting in Nicosia (Cyprus).
The first part of these discussions, which began at midday on Friday, drew on a number of academic contributions. At the same time, the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union has proposed five main areas for consideration. These focused on strengthening Europe’s economic resilience and strategic autonomy, the obstacles to private investment in research and development, the adaptation of the European industrial and export model to the strategic sectors of tomorrow, the impact of the diversity of the economic models of the EU Member States on competitiveness, and ways of increasing European productivity while preserving the Union's social model.
“The motto of the Cyprus Presidency is EU strategic autonomy – strategic autonomy goes hand in hand with enhancing competitiveness”, said the host of the meeting, Cypriot Minister Mákis Keravnós, on Friday.
During a second round of discussions, the ministers continued their discussions on the use of so-called “stable” cryptocurrencies (stablecoins), generally indexed to a traditional currency – for example, the US dollar – such as Dai, USD Coin or Tether.
According to a working document copied to Agence Europe, the discussion focused on the risks that these assets could pose to the EU’s financial stability, monetary sovereignty and bank financing, as well as the regulatory responses and European infrastructure that need to be developed to avoid over-dependence on dollar-denominated stablecoins in future tokenised finance.
The aim was also to analyse how to increase investment in this sector without undermining fiscal governance, Mr Keravnós told the press on Friday. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)