This summer, five European countries – Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and France – sent a position paper, that is, a document which summarizes a position on a topic, to make a series of requests. Among these is that of making 500 euro banknotes illegal and raising the limit for cash payments to 5 thousand euro, compared to the 10 thousand proposed by the package of anti-money laundering regulations presented by the Commission in July, with which it was announced. the creation of the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority.
As he wrote this week the Sole 24 Ore, the request of the five countries is precisely aimed at limiting money laundering and tax evasion, of which the 500 euro banknote is a frequent tool. The issue is topical again because in these days the European institutions are beginning to evaluate the proposals in this area, and the preparatory work for the trilogue, that is the informal negotiations between the Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament, has begun.
The main points of the discussion concern the ceiling on the circulation of cash (which in Italy is already at 2 thousand euros, a figure lower than those we are talking about) and the role to be assigned to the Anti-Money Laundering Authority: whether to make it a simple monitoring or entrusting it with more active supervisory tasks. Italy would be more in favor of this second option, and is also pushing for the Authority’s headquarters to be entrusted to the city of Milan. On this the ABI (Italian Banking Association) has explicitly asked for support to Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
It has long been known that 500 euro banknotes are used by criminal organizations to launder money from illegal activities, so much so that since 2019 the European Central Bank has stopped printing them. However, they still have legal value and therefore can be exchanged at a bank with smaller denominations, at least for now. In position paper, quoted from Sole 24 Ore, the five countries asking for a ban wrote that “the latest statistics at the end of February 2021 show that 400 million banknotes are still in circulation, for a total value of 200 billion euros”.
The document goes on to ask the Commission “to engage with the European Central Bank to consider further steps on the 500 euro banknote, including the introduction of a phasing out to allow for the progressive conversion by the public into banknotes of denomination. smaller under the supervision of banks and central banks ».
– Read also: The Supreme Court says you have to pay tip taxes
–
