On Thursday 16 April, European associations of small retailers welcomed the position taken by the Social Democrat (S&D) group in the European Parliament in favour of the principle that retailers should be “better off” in the context of the legislative work currently underway on the intermediary fee model for a future digital euro (see EUROPE 13849/15).
EuroCommerce, Ecommerce Europe, EACT, IATA, Independent Retail Europe and SMEunited, grouped together in a ‘Merchant Payments Coalition Europe’, have for several months supported a model that takes account of the central role played by merchants in the EU payments ecosystem.
In particular, the organisations consider the position of the EU Council to be insufficient, limiting itself, in their view, to a “no worse off” principle, which does not sufficiently reflect the specific nature of the digital euro as a public currency with compulsory acceptance, nor the absence of credit risk for private banks.
The associations are calling for digital euro fees to be capped at a fixed amount of 4 cents for transactions of €40 or more. They are urging European negotiators to include the “best offer” principle in the final text of the regulation. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)