The EU wants to ban Amazon from developing a digital euro

A cross-party coalition of European Parliament members has criticized the European Central Bank (ECB) for choosing Amazon to help develop the digital euro. Eero Heinäluoma, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, called the reputation of the American tech giant questionable. The politician recalled the record fine of 746 million euros that the company received from data protection regulators in 2021 for allegedly violating privacy rules.

MEP Stephanie Jon-Courtin called on ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta to explain why Amazon was chosen. According to her, in July 2022, Panetta said that the digital euro would protect the strategic autonomy of European payments and monetary sovereignty, as well as help avoid market pressure. Lawmakers from the Green Party called on the ECB to reverse the decision so as not to jeopardize the entire project.

Panetta defended the ECB’s previous decision, arguing that Amazon was selected based on pre-established criteria. The official also emphasized that Amazon did not receive any financial reward for its participation, nor exclusive data about the project or its users. However, these assurances have made lawmakers even more concerned. According to the representative of the Socialist Party, Jonas Fernandez, the absence of financial reward implies that the company made a profit in some other way.

Two weeks ago, the European Central Bank announced cooperation with five corporations to test a single digital currency (CBDC) within the European Union. Amazon was to work on a digital euro payment system for e-commerce, CaixaBank and Worldline were to be responsible for creating P2P payment prototypes, and EPI and Nexi were to work on retail payments at the point of sale and in the service sector.

The European Parliament also announced the conditions for launching its own digital asset. Currently, the European Commission does not perceive blockchain as a potentially important technology that can be used at the state level. The agency believes that it is first necessary to prove that the technology is safe and has sufficient bandwidth. Therefore, the EU is inclined to believe that the digital currency will start working no earlier than 2026.