this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2025
120 points (94.8% liked)

Buy European

7155 readers
477 users here now

Overview:

The community to discuss buying European goods and services.

Matrix Chat of this community

Rules:

  • Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. No direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments.

  • Do not use this community to promote Nationalism/Euronationalism. This community is for discussing European products/services and news related to that. For other topics the following might be of interest:

  • Include a disclaimer at the bottom of the post if you're affiliated with the recommendation.

  • No russian suggestions.

Feddit.uk's instance rules apply:

  • No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or xenophobia.
  • No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies.
  • No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users.
  • Do not share intentionally false or misleading information.
  • Do not spam or abuse network features.
  • Alt accounts are permitted, but all accounts must list each other in their bios.
  • No generative AI content.

Useful Websites

Benefits of Buying Local:

local investment, job creation, innovation, increased competition, more redundancy.

European Instances

Lemmy:

Friendica:

Matrix:

Related Communities:

Buy Local:

Continents:

European:

Buying and Selling:

Boycott:

Countries:

Companies:

Stop Publisher Kill Switch in Games Practice:

Banner credits: BYTEAlliance

founded 8 months ago
MODERATORS
maam@feddit.uk
alex@jlai.lu
circledot@feddit.org
Argyle13@lemmy.world
buyeuropean@lemmy.ca
buyeuropean@feddit.org
Sunshine@piefed.ca
Lazycog@sopuli.xyz
120
The digital euro has enraged half of Brussels. Hereโ€™s what you need to know. (www.politico.eu)
submitted 19 hours ago by Sunshine@piefed.ca to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk
48 comments fedilink hide all child comments
all 49 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[โ€“] Muscle_Meteor@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

So the right is against it: good

The banks are against it: probably still good

It might stifle innovation: okay.. where has that been up until now?

The ECB has already made concessions to appease banks, the digital euro will have a 0% intrest rate for example so banks should still be more appealing to store money in... Not that i've seen an intrest rate at a bank above 2% since 2008, but hey... Room to innovate..

Germany doesnt like the idea of potential snooping... So i guess they trust big american corporations more than an institution they have an actual say over?

I dont see a real downside to trying it, other than upseting american companies and special interest groups, and i'd much prefer this to some crypto bullshit

[โ€“] rikudou 17 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

Why not simply mandate all banks to support immediate payments? And to support webhooks for all payments? That would make it extremely easy to not rely on Visa/MasterCard.

[โ€“] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 11 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Instant payments have already been mandated through SEPA. It will come into force quite soon.

[โ€“] rikudou 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Even for non-Eurozone countries?

[โ€“] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Just SEPA afaik. But that makes sense for Brussels to dictate, the rest of the world is a little beyond their jurisdiction.

[โ€“] rikudou 1 points 8 hours ago

Well, Eurozone != EU. And if I'm not mistaken, it either was or will be mandatory for Eurozone, but not the whole EU. Though I might be mistaken.

[โ€“] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

How can you pay using webhooks?

[โ€“] rikudou 6 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Step 1. You pay using an immediate bank transfer

Step 2. Bank sends a webhook to the merchant letting him know in real time the money were received

Step 3. There's no step 3, you paid, merchant has got the money immediately and knows about it and you avoided using foreign card companies.

[โ€“] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

~~Don't bank transfers have problems with buyer protection?~~

Do suppose crypto does, actually...

[โ€“] thericofactor@sh.itjust.works 112 points 18 hours ago (5 children)

a proposed electronic version of the physical euro that has banks and right-leaning politicians fuming.

That should tell you enough about why we need it.

TL;DR the digital euro isn't stored in a bank, but in a digital ledger, making it impossible for banks to use it as they wish for investments, mortgages or trading.

Never again do banks need to be saved by governments from their own bad and risky investment decisions because they are "too big to fail".

[โ€“] john_t@piefed.ee 41 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

From what I've read in other news, the digital euro wallet will have a hard limit on the amount you can store in it, something like 1000 euros for example. Also, it needs to be linked to a physical euro bank account. Those features combined prevent fraud and speculation. It's mostly to be used as an online payment method to circumvent the Visa/Mastercard american payment duopoly.

[โ€“] Amberskin@europe.pub 9 points 11 hours ago

I can confirm European banks are actively participating in the definition and implementation of the โ€˜digital euroโ€™. So the โ€˜banks are fumingโ€™ thing is bullshit.

Crypto-scam โ€˜companiesโ€™, on the other handโ€ฆ

[โ€“] wewbull@feddit.uk 15 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

That doesn't mean bank accounts disappear. Banks will still hold your digital euros for you and pay you interest so that they can invest your money and make more money.

Nothing changes.

[โ€“] GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 7 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

Banks dont pay me interest any more, lol. I have to pay account fees. So that they might be so courteous as to take my money and enrich themselves with it

[โ€“] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

What?

[โ€“] GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Either you have a lot of capital so you actually do get some returns from the bank for parking it with them, or you are very fortunate.

My german, bog standard account with a 100โ‚ฌ overdraft limit pays me like, 2 cents a year for having my account there. While billing me 10โ‚ฌ or so per financial quarter for the account. Granted i'm poor, so they cant make that much money with my "capital", but still.

[โ€“] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago

That's... crazy.

Here in the UK I get a 4.25% APR savings account. It's completely free and I've already got about ยฃ20 in 2 months off just putting a little bit of money away each month. Up to ยฃ20k this is tax free as well, though I'm nowhere near that haha.

If you're saving for a home you can also open a special savings account from which you can only withdraw for a downpayment on a first home where you get a 25% bonus on your deposits from the govt, up to ยฃ1k for ยฃ4k deposited per year, all that is of course also tax free. I got about ยฃ700 from ยฃ3k of deposits.

My day to day bank account and one I get paid into by work (also free ofc), I just empty right away and plug into savings so it sits there accumulating interests, then I live off a credit card for the rest of the month, which is interest free as long as you pay it off every month, and for every purchase over ยฃ50 you can split it across three months, without interest.

[โ€“] DacoTaco@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago

All depends on how its implemented tbh. If its not regulated correctly it'll turn into what any digital currency is: a shitshow.
Im all for, if its done right.

Granted, i have yet to look into the proposal so no idea what they have in mind! Its on my todo list!

[โ€“] TheBat@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago (4 children)

Other than banks in Iceland, any other European banks were affected by the subprime crisis?

[โ€“] ILikeTraaaains@lemmy.world 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

In Spain, almost all of the Cajas de Ahorros (it is not the same but to not go in details, imagine a some sort of credit union) went under due the financial crisis.

They were merged and transformed into a bank that then was rescued with lot of public money from taxpayers and it never repay to the society (either by returning the money or lowering fees and mortgage interest, in fact it almost erased people savings while the board of directors increased their bonuses.

Now the bank no longer exists, it was purchased by another bank, the one with most egregious fees in the country.

[โ€“] TheBat@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago

That tracks. Most European banks appear to be risk averse, unlike their American counterparts. I had assumed most of them either stayed away or lightly dealt with subprime bullshit.

[โ€“] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 2 points 14 hours ago

All the major British banks were.

[โ€“] SorryImLate@piefed.social 1 points 12 hours ago

UBS and Credit Suisse in Switzerland both. UBS required a bail out at the time.

[โ€“] HarvesterOfEyes@piefed.social 0 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (2 children)

Portugal as well. Off the top of my head, BES, Banif and BPP were the most seriously affected, such that they no longer exist.

[โ€“] john_t@piefed.ee 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

No. Those portuguese banks failed in different years because of internal corruption. It had nothing to do to the failed investment assets that caused the subprime crisis. The Icelandic banks failed because they invested heavily in toxic assets.

[โ€“] HarvesterOfEyes@piefed.social 1 points 3 hours ago

It is true that their failure was due to internal corruption and not the issues that led to the subprime crisis. I misunderstood the question and concede the point.

But the subprime crisis (or the financial landscape after it) did expose the frailties (and in those cases I mentioned, corruption) of the Portuguese banks and was a non-insignificant factor in their demise. But I suppose you can say the same for a lot of other banks in other countries.

[โ€“] TheBat@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

Wow. I always thought European banks were more risk-averse than American ones.

[โ€“] Cyber@feddit.uk 5 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

But isn't the bank lending out your money and charging interest... which they pay back (some) to you?

If that doesn't happen and the digital euro just sits under your bed, then how do savings work vs inflation?

[โ€“] grue@lemmy.world 13 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know if it's different in Europe, but where I live bank savings account interest has been so low as to be a joke my entire adult life. If your goal is to have an investment or even just beat inflation, a bank account ain't it.

[โ€“] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 hours ago

It's not high exactly but here in the UK you basically can't beat compound interest in returns and predictability over time. The alternatives are investing in businesses of which none succeed or really grow and has a high barrier to entry or the gambling with 4x leverage CFDs which is closer to horse betting than any kind of investment strategy.

[โ€“] wintermute@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The digital euro doesn't stop you from keeping doing it. It only replaces cash. Instead of withdrawing cash from the ATM to keep it in your wallet, you withdraw digital cash and keep it in your phone.

[โ€“] Cyber@feddit.uk 2 points 11 hours ago

True, but that would be a phone app which has to come from an official (US) app store on a phone that is using offical (US) firmware...

I'm all for having a financial system that we can use 100% disconnected from the US, but it's the details that makes this hard, not the initial concept of e-Money.

But, back to the original point, I don't know how interest would work on money in an eWallet. I'd want to keep all my funds earning for me, which means loaning to others and then getting something back... so I don't want those transactions sitting in a 0% "safe" place... I'm either saving or spending.

So, if we can just have a EU version of Visa / Mastercard as step 1 that would be best. I think that's just arriving...

[โ€“] dumnezero@piefed.social 16 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

What are "Politco.eu" political and billionaire ties? Just out of curiosity.

[โ€“] phneutral@feddit.org 27 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Politico was bought bei conservative German publisher Axel Springer SE some years ago. Their tabloid Bild is populist to right-wing. They have ties to German car manufacturers and other uber rich. CEO Dรถpfner is for example friends with Peter Thiel afaik.

[โ€“] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Okay, so politico then can be discarded as reliable. I mean, it's soort of independent ish still, but I don't trust it to be that forever.

Going to stick with the Jacobin and Freedom (the British journal).

[โ€“] Taalnazi@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

Not sure what's wrong, since I seem to be unable to edit the comment, so here's an addition.

Can rec this site also.

[โ€“] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 9 points 17 hours ago

The main sources of revenue are advertising, event sponsorship and paid subscriptions with nearly half coming from the subscription business.[10]

from Wikipedia

'event sponsorship' is where you probably want to dig into to see where the money is being funneled

[โ€“] JumpyWombat@lemmy.ml 9 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

Does it mean that half of Brussels is either in a bank's pocket or believes in some conspiracy theory lingering over any technology more evolved than a FM/AM radio?

[โ€“] RheumatoidArthritis@mander.xyz 2 points 13 hours ago

Ah yes, the reduction to luddism. Advanced tech can be implemented in an user-respecting way or make a great tool for totalitarian governments to come. With this and Chat Control, the EU went on a very worrying course of total invigilation.

Does it make me afraid of this new technology? Sure. Do I keep paying with cash because I like coins clinking in my pocket? No, I hate carrying coins but the alternative of giving the oppressor information about my every step is so much worse.

[โ€“] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Probably a combination of older people, bankers (all of the big banks are headquartered in Brussels and payment processors like Bancontact, also Euroclear (people also forget about silent CSDs holding enormous power) which all together have a ridiculous amount of employees in Brussels as well as a separatist movement in Flanders that is like brexit but with even more racism and strawmen.

Then there is also the fact that here in Belgium, there is still quite a cash culture in some places. International payment processors have huge fees, so a lot of places only take Bancontact or cash still, which isn't a bad thing since most payment processors exist to transfer wealth from the working class to the owning class doing as little as possible to meet that goal with ridiculous fees.

[โ€“] JumpyWombat@lemmy.ml 2 points 14 hours ago

there is still quite a cash culture in some places

The Digital Euro will be like gay marriages: if you don't like it, just don't have one ๐Ÿ˜‰

The opposition, as you said, comes essentially from lobbies.

[โ€“] Deckname@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

[โ€“] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 hours ago

Well, they kinda did. They always do. Otherwise they're not really a bank are they? That's fine of course though as long as they're taking money to fulfill their job as a bank, not as a bailout because they failed to do so yet remain privatized for some reason (we all know why).

[โ€“] HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 6 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Will it still be relevant once Wero has spread throughout the continent?

[โ€“] dumnezero@piefed.social 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Is Wero a private corporation? If yes, it can be bought by bigger corporations (such as ones from the US or China).

[โ€“] Zwiebel@feddit.org 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)
[โ€“] dumnezero@piefed.social 2 points 14 hours ago

I see. Looks like a precursor to digital euro.

[โ€“] MrSulu@lemmy.ml 1 points 17 hours ago

If this is correct, and I am not expert or well enough informed, then I'm all for it and will move over ASAP when available. Like many, I will rely upon trusted and unbiased sources for guidance.