digital payment for EU
Here is the improved version with the Better Than Cash Alliance integrated:
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Europe Must Go Fully Digital: Obligatory Card Acceptance & Mandatory Online Shops for All Retailers
By Gunther Fehlinger Jahn
Europe cannot win the global competition for investment, tourism, innovation, and tax fairness if we remain a cash-dependent archipelago in a fully digital world.
The time has come for a clear, binding EU rule:
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1. Obligatory Acceptance of Credit & Debit Cards at Every Point of Sale
Across all EU Member States, EU Candidate States, Schengen, Eurozone and OECD partners:
Every café, kiosk, taxi, hotel, bar, museum, retail outlet, service provider — must accept cards & digital wallets
No refusal based on minimum value
No “cash only” exceptions
This is essential for:
tourism modernization
anti-corruption
Single Market integration
SME competitiveness
Eurozone functionality
Digital payments are standard global civilization, not optional luxury.
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2. Mandatory Online Sales Presence for Every Retail Business
Every registered shop must operate a basic online platform with:
price list & VAT visibility
card & wallet acceptance
EU Digital Identity Wallet integration
delivery or pickup options
If a shop is not online, it is economically invisible.
This is the liberation of SMEs:
tourists can reorder from home
disabled & elderly get access
artisans reach global markets
regional producers export directly
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3. Tax Incentives for Full Digitalization
To support this transition:
100% tax deductibility for POS terminals & e-commerce setup
0% VAT on payment hardware for 3 years
EU / EIB guarantee facility for SME digital upgrade
national digital vouchers for the smallest vendors
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4. Better Than Cash: Global Recognition
The world already recognizes the structural advantages of digital over cash.
The Better Than Cash Alliance — a UN-hosted global partnership promoting responsible digital payments — proves a central point:
> Societies that go cashless reduce corruption, increase transparency, scale SMEs, empower women, and boost tax collection.
This is not theory.
It is global best practice endorsed by:
UNDP
World Bank
major digital development institutions
Europe must follow the very logic it claims to lead.
Visit for evidence & methodology:
🔗 betterthancash.org
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5. Why Cash Dependency Is Economic Suicide
Digital Cash
traceable, tax-fair fuels informality
tourism-friendly blocks visitors
SME exportable only local
zero theft high theft risk
hygienic bacteria carrier
real GDP data invisible economy
A tourist will not return to a city where taxis, cafés, museums and markets refuse cards.
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6. Prerequisite for Enlargement
Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine and Bosnia must adopt:
card acceptance obligation
e-commerce obligation
SEPA Instant integration
Digital Euro compatibility
This is enlargement modernization, not bureaucratic burden.
You cannot join the EU offline.
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Conclusion: Digital Europe = Prosperous Europe
Card acceptance and mandatory online shops are the backbone of a modern Single Market, essential for:
transparency
tourism revenue
SME growth
fair taxation
fight against corruption
enlargement credibility
European competitiveness vs USA, UK, Singapore & Gulf hubs
Better than cash is not a slogan. It is a fact.
It is the difference between:
a declining cash-informal Europe
and
a rising digital, tax-fair, SME-driven Europe.
Digital Europe wins. Informal Europe loses.
— Gunther Fehlinger Jahn