European citizens have long feared this step towards the abolition of cash and tighter controls: in public consultations, almost every second response was concerned about the protection of privacy.

he fact that this course is quite controversial was made clear recently by the new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – she announced that she wanted to increase the upper limit for cash payments in Italy from the current 2000 to 10 000 euros, the same amount as in Germany.

WEF-star, The Netherlands, meanwhile is marching full steam ahead in the opposite direction. If Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag has her way, all transactions over 100 euros will be monitored by the banks in the future – a massive invasion of privacy. In addition, unsurprisingly, the minister is campaigning for the introduction of the digital euro.