Is the EU banning American credit cards?
Social media users allege that ECB President Christine Lagarde has announced plans to get rid of the likes of Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/16/is-the-eu-banning-american-credit-cards
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
Social media users allege that ECB President Christine Lagarde has announced plans to get rid of the likes of Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/16/is-the-eu-banning-american-credit-cards
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Is the EU banning American credit cards?
00:08Viral social media posts are claiming that the European Union wants to get rid of American
00:12payment cards such as Visa and Mastercard, as well as foreign online payment platforms
00:17like PayPal and Alipay.
00:19These posts on Ex say that European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde made the
00:23announcement and that she's planning to replace them with European alternatives.
00:27Some post in Dutch even says that Lagarde wants to replace these payment methods with
00:31the central bank's incoming digital euro.
00:34However, Lagarde's words have been taken out of context.
00:37A Google search takes us to an interview she gave to Irish radio station Newstalk on 2 April,
00:43in which she warned that Europe must end its reliance on US and Chinese technology.
00:47At around the 6 minute 20 mark, Lagarde stresses the importance of Europe being able to take
00:52control of its own digital payments.
00:55Whether you use a card or whether you use a phone.
00:59Typically, it goes through Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Alipay.
01:04Where are all those cards coming from?
01:05Well, either the US or China.
01:08And the whole sort of infrastructure mechanism that allows for the payment, credit and debit
01:15is not a European solution.
01:16That is the point, which is where I think that we have to reduce that vulnerability and make
01:23sure that there is a European offer that is available just in case, you never know.
01:27So, with her words in context, Lagarde makes it clear that she wants there to be a European
01:31alternative existing alongside these US and Chinese payment methods. She didn't mention getting rid of
01:37them. We also reached out to the European Central Bank, which confirmed that it's not advocating
01:41banning these payment systems. Amid continued misinformation that digital currencies would
01:46replace cash, the ECB once again assured that the digital euro would complement cash and existing
01:52digital payment methods.