The digital euro project is strongly criticized, among other things for its intrusiveness in private life. Despite its status as a member of the European Union, Slovakia is putting in place a proactive defense in the face of the financial digital wave that is looming.
Slovakia rolls out constitutional cash regulation
A member country of the European Union (EU), Slovakia cannot impose its choice concerning the project of a European CBDC, the digital euro. However, the country can act on its own legal texts to protect itself from the effects of this initiative.
This is the interpretation that can be made of the news that the country has added financial provisions in its constitution. The initiative taken by Parliament has an essential objective.
It is to enshrine the right of individuals to pay in cash for the goods and services they need. For MP Miloš Svrček, this constitutional amendment was necessary. It intervenes as a means of protecting the State from potential abuses of the European CBDC project.
The Slovak Parliament is not indifferent to this. This is why it plans to reinforce this new measure, by introducing a standard concerning merchants. To these, the provision should recognize the constitutional right to withhold cash payments for the goods and services they sell.
The ambition of this provision is twofold. It plans to implement safeguards to limit the exposure of merchants to the risk of theft. This is also the way to create a legal exception involving entities offering card-only vending machines. They would then not be required to accept cash payments.
These different measures suggest Slovakia’s reservations about the CBDC project that the EU wants to develop. An initiative that, although it has certain advantages, also has many disadvantages. These raise numerous criticisms which hinder their adoption.
Recently, the European Central Bank (ECB) recalled the usefulness of the program, according to it. This, however, calls for slowing down on the deployment of digital currency.
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