EU Economists: Save Our Euros from Tech Giants! 💸

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  • Seventy-eight economists, clutching their slide rules like talismans, warn that foreign payment firms may soon dictate Europe’s fiscal fate-or worse, monetize its soul.
  • A public digital euro, they insist, would let citizens hoard central bank money like squirrels in a post-apocalyptic vault-though cash, that relic of the 20th century, still clings to life.
  • Commercial banks, trembling at the prospect of losing their “free” retail deposits, lobby furiously-after all, who needs innovation when you’ve got ECB-backed cash flow?

Europe, that storied cradle of philosophy and bureaucracy, now teeters at a crossroads: Will it embrace a digital future-or let Silicon Valley and Wall Street finish what Napoleon never could? A cabal of seventy economists, armed with spreadsheets and a hint of existential dread, has penned an open letter to the EU, begging Parliament to “let the public interest prevail.” How quaint, this sudden concern for the people.

These scholars, in their Sunday best of jargon, argue that without a state-sanctioned digital euro, Europe risks surrendering monetary sovereignty to faceless tech overlords. One wonders if they’ve considered the irony of trusting a central bank over a corporation-like swapping one cage for another, slightly shinier one.

The Fight for a Public Digital Euro Option

Their letter, titled with all the subtlety of a revolutionary manifesto, warns that Europe’s reliance on foreign card networks is a “massive risk”-a risk, one might add, of being financially strangled while whispering sweet nothings to American algorithms. Thirteen countries, it turns out, lack even a domestic payment rail. How’s that for a foundation upon which to build a modern economy?

Signatories like Thomas Piketty-yes, that Piketty-argue that a digital euro is a “public good,” a phrase that makes one long for the days when “public” meant something other than a marketing buzzword. They demand it be free for basic services, as if the ECB could possibly resist the siren call of profit… or maybe they just want to outsource socialism to spreadsheets.

Will Europeans assert control over their money in the digital age, or do we allow others to control it for us?

That’s the question 70 economists just wrote in an open letter to the EU.

13 euro-area countries have no domestic payment rails.

Every retail transaction runs…

– James ⟠ | Snapcrackle.eth (@Snapcrackle)

This “new form of money,” they claim, will complement cash-though one suspects cash will be the polite guest who’s quietly asked to leave. It will ensure access to “public central bank money,” a phrase that sounds less like financial policy and more like a dystopian novel’s premise.

Economists, ever the optimists, warn that inaction will make merchants “increasingly dependent on non-European technology.” A bold prediction, considering the same merchants currently depend on Amazon and Google for their online stores. How’s that working out for them?

Risks of Ignoring the Digital Euro Project

Thirteen countries, it seems, have no backup for international card networks. A oversight! The economists, ever the geopolitical soothsayers, note how easily payment access could become a “geopolitical weapon.” One imagines Putin swiping a card to freeze Europe’s economy mid-transaction.

Without a digital euro, they fret, the “basic parts of the economy” could fall under foreign control. A dire fate indeed-for the ECB, at least. US-backed stablecoins, those paragons of neutrality, are already spreading like digital kudzu. Soon, even your coffee purchase might fund a Wall Street hedge fund. How romantic.

A “robust public system,” they argue, would create a direct link between citizens and the ECB-assuming citizens trust the ECB more than their local bakers, but who are we to judge?

Privacy by design? Of course. Why stop at privacy when you can have a system that’s “available to everyone, even those without a bank account”? A noble goal, until you realize it’s just a way to outsource banking to the ECB while keeping the banks’ profits. Revolutionary!

Banking Lobby Fights Against the Digital Euro

Not all is harmony in this fiscal utopia. The banking lobby, that ancient order of powdered wigs and spreadsheets, fights back. Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and ING-giants of finance-howl that the digital euro will “hurt private innovation.” One wonders if they’ll next claim that paper money stifles candlestick-making.

These banks, guardians of the status quo, fear losing “cheap and stable funding” as citizens flee to ECB wallets. Imagine that: a world where people’s money isn’t a tool for banks to play god with interest rates. The horror!

Under current plans, the ECB might cap holdings at €3,000-a move that would make Scrooge McDuck blush. Banks, ever the balance-sheet enthusiasts, argue this is “dangerous.” Or perhaps it’s just a small price to pay for not being the next Lehman Brothers.

Hans Stegeman of Triodos Bank, a rare dove among vultures, signed the letter. He believes the financial system should “serve society first.” A radical notion, akin to suggesting that corporations should occasionally do something useful.

The signatories, in their infinite wisdom, warn lawmakers not to let “financial lobbying water down the project.” A futile hope, perhaps-but then again, what is democracy if not a series of well-meaning open letters?

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2026-01-12 20:32