Within the European Union, there must be a maximum of 5000 euros on amounts that you can pay in cash. The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain are arguing for this with the European Commission, writes the outgoing Minister of Finance Hoekstra to the House of Representatives. The Telegraph wrote about that this morning.
The Netherlands has been working on a cash limit of 3000 euros, but there was not enough support for that border among other EU member states, Hoekstra writes. That is why the countries are calling for a limit of 5000 euros, with room for countries themselves to introduce a lower limit.
Money laundering and terrorist financing
These are measures intended to combat organized crime and money laundering. Cash poses a major risk, the countries write. It is anonymous and untraceable and is therefore used for, among other things, money laundering, terrorist financing, drug and human trafficking and tax evasion.
The 500-euro note also poses a risk, and the countries want the European Commission, together with the European Central Bank (ECB), to consider saying goodbye to that note. The ECB has stopped producing 500 euro notes for more than two years due to concerns about ‘illegal practices’, but the notes are still in circulation.
200 billion euros
At the beginning of 2019, when the production of 500 euro notes stopped, there were about 516 million notes in circulation. Earlier this year it turned out that there were still 400 million, with a value of 200 billion euros.
Becomes for a long time called for the abolition of the 500 euro note. The Dutch Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), part of the police that focuses on money laundering, said in 2019 that the note is almost exclusively used by drug criminals.
–
