> Meloni, who was elected in September, is finalising her first budget, which is due to include a rule allowing shopkeepers and businesses to refuse cards and demand cash for payments up to €60.
I am really curious to know her justification for this move.
If Italy wanted to avoid US credit card networks, they already have SEPA instant credit transfers, which the EU is pushing to make mandatory (versus an optional premium offering).
https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-insta...
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_...
Wonderful news.
Most banks/payment processors would charge a fixed amount per small transaction. Amount varies a fair bit, but as an order of magnitute, say - €0.15 or something like that. This means customer that bought cup of coffee for €1.50 and insists on paying with a card, will cost vendor whooping 10% extra (it is not allowed for vendor to pass on card transaction cost to customer).
For a larger purchase, €30, €60, and more - transaction charge is negligible, naturally.
This is already the case. The status quo allows vendors to refuse card payments if the total is under €30.