‘Thank goodness we left EU’ as bloc pushes plans to force through digital coin

Former MEP Ben Habib says the UK has “dodged a bullet” as the EU firms up its plans for a digital euro. Although the plans are still in draft form, Mr Habib said the trend toward digital currency will mean people living in the EU will give up more control of their finances. He said governments within the EU could use central bank digital currencies to “craft people’s behaviour.”

Talking to Express.co.uk, Mr Habib said: “A lot of people will see its benefits to be the efficiency of trading, the ability for instant transfer across borders… And the liquidity of the transfers.

“But with it would also go a huge amount of control to central banks and the ability to monitor precisely what you’re spending your money on and an ability to control how much you spend on food [and other items]. They could come up with all sorts of diktats that aren’t beneficial for the consumer.

“Governments [EU members] will be able to use central bank digital currencies in order to craft people’s behaviour to make it difficult for them to spend more money on mortgages and buy discretionary items.

He added: “My goodness, thank god we dodged that bullet.”

As part of its preparations to introduce a new plan, the European Commission is calling on the European Central Bank to regulate the use of digital currency.

The draft proposal explains that the digital euro would be exchangeable for euro banknotes and coins at face value. It also prohibits surcharges on debt repayments.

Mr Habib, elected as a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2019, said European Central Bank chief Christine Legarde’s “eyes lit up” when officials spoke about digital currency.

He explained: “We questioned her on digital currency and her eyes lit up.

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“She was enamoured by the prospect that would allow her for first time in monetary history take interest rates into negative territory.”

He explained that if Europe completely replaced cash with digital currency, which isn’t currently being proposed right now, and interest rates became negative, “they [EU citizens] would be stuck with CBDCs [central bank digital currencies] and tolerate paying the bank in order to access their own cash.

He added: “She [Christine Legarde] said it will give us much greater latitude to set monetary policy because at the moment we can’t go into negative territory.”

The EU couldn’t put forward negative interest rates because it would cause people to withdraw their cash in droves, explained Mr Habib.

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