EPI calls for sovereignty

The calls for European monetary sovereignty follow. After European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of France, it is the turn of the operator of the Wero mobile payment system, theEuropean Payments Initiative (EPI) to present itself as a pillar and a guarantee of Europe's independence.

FACTS

• The new call for monetary sovereignty launched by EPI today proposes a pooling of forces and competences among all European digital payment solutions.

• On this basis, EPI recalls the existence and relevance of its "Wero" solution, an instant payment system that can be used as a transparent alternative to international cards.

• With over 40 million registered customers, Wero is now functional for P2P and P2Pro payments. But it has also been designed to integrate other means of payment as well as value-added services and thus functions as a digital portfolio in its own right.

• And it is with this logic that EPI today makes a new call for the mobilisation of local payment solutions and networks, but also of the alternative players involved, to collaborate with Wero and thus further boost the features and uses of its large-scale solution.

ISSUES

• Stress the urgency : The successive and sometimes paradoxical announcements concerning the customs duties carried by the current US President not only aroused the fears of the economic actors directly concerned. They stress the lack of balance and strength and reiterate the importance for Europe of guaranteeing its independence on certain strategic issues, including payments. Today, however, Visa and MasterCard networks, as well as online payment actors such as PayPal, impose a certain dependency on Europe.

• Defending its reference status This call for mobilisation enables EPI to offer itself a central place at the heart of this action and to once again highlight the Wero solution as an already operational tool to guarantee the sovereignty and interoperability of payments in Europe. An all the more important commitment to remember when Bancomat, Bizum and SIBS support in the south of the EuropPA (European Payments Alliance).

• Specify your calendar : EPI takes the opportunity to conclude this call to clarify the launch of e-commerce payments in the summer of 2025 in Germany and Belgium, then in France and the Netherlands in 2026. The solution will also be further developed by the end of 2026 and cover both point-of-sale payments and invoices. In particular, the solution will use QR codes and European standards for NFC/non-contact transactions.

PERSPECTIVE

• It is the geopolitical context and the American shifts that are driving European actors to mobilize more than ever in favour of European monetary sovereignty. They all stress the fundamental importance of guaranteeing this sovereignty while seeking to demonstrate the major place that their own solution could take.

• Just before EPI so, it's the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of France who wore also this message of sovereignty by highlighting the digital euro as a strategic lever to enable the euro area to control its financial future.

• Jean-Paul Mazoyer, President of CB, recalled For its part, most recently the current stakes, while it estimates that 60% of card payments made by Europeans are made on American networks, despite the fact that the Banking Cards (CB) network is on average ten times cheaper compared to Visa and Mastercard.

Traduit automatiquement via Libretranslate / Automatically translated via Libretranslate