2021-02.html.j2 (2927B)
1 {% extends "common/news.j2" %} 2 {% block body_content %} 3 <h1>2021-2: Helping the European Commission</h1> 4 <p> 5 In December 2020 the European Parliament asked the European Commission 6 about the suitability of GNU Taler to establish a digital Euro in a 7 <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-006895_EN.html">small inquiry</a>. 8 In the <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-006895-ASW_EN.html">official answer</a>, 9 the commission mostly asserts that it is unable "to assess the functioning of the GNU Taler payment system", 10 and points to a maximum transaction limit of 150 EUR, without really answering 11 the questions raised by the inquiry. 12 </p> 13 14 <p> 15 To assist the European Union with regards to the inquiry, we point 16 out that the operation of GNU Taler is completely and transparently 17 made public at <a href="https://taler.net/">https://taler.net/</a>, 18 so if the European Commission is, like anyone else, in position to assess the 19 functioning of the GNU Taler payment system. We recently also described 20 details of how the system would function for an E-Euro in a 21 <a href="https://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/papers/id/working_paper_2021_03">working paper 22 with the Swiss National Bank</a>. Based on our publicly available documentation, 23 Prof. Birchler, a previous member of the directorate of the Swiss National Bank, 24 <a href="https://www.batz.ch/2021/03/digitales-bargeld-swiss-made/">publicly 25 commented</a> that our approach is the best published proposal for digital cash. 26 </p> 27 28 <p> With respect to EU policy objectives, we would like to point out that the 29 150 EUR limit postulated by the European Commission for private payments is 30 very low, and in our view incompatible with the data protection objectives of 31 the European Union. We want to stress that with GNU Taler, only the citizen 32 making the payment can remain anonymous. Thus, Taler is not suitable for money 33 laundering or illegal business activities as receivers of payments are easily 34 identified. A recent <a 35 href="https://www.ecb.europa.eu//press/pr/date/2021/html/ecb.pr210113~ec9929f446.en.html">broad 36 consultation</a> by the European Central Bank showed that the European 37 population demands privacy compareable to physical cash when it comes to the 38 Digital Euro. With cash, the transaction limit is at 10,000 EUR. Thus, were 39 the 150 EUR limit apply truly to all forms of privacy-friendly electronic 40 cash, this would be a key point where the European Union should provide for more 41 citizen-friendly regulation, especially for technical solutions that include 42 security features that adequately minimize the risk of citizens suffering 43 financial losses. 44 </p> 45 46 <p> 47 Finally, we would like to stress that the GNU Taler project is open to 48 a cooperation with the European Central Bank, and is happy to answer 49 questions from specialists of the European Parliament or the European 50 Commission. 51 </p> 52 53 {% endblock body_content %}