LETTER FROM VIENNA
Josef Binder, 53, is the cash-loving type through and through. This discreet owner of a carpentry on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria, claims to live without a credit card. “I pay cash everywhere. » Even on vacation? “It has become more difficult, but you can get away with booking through a travel agency”explains his secretary, Sabine Hatzl, 54, who tries to limit her card payments as much as possible since her bank asked her for information on her assets. “They blocked my account, it was a sign for months that the banks have far too much power. »
This duo who receive guests in the small canteen of their SME is at the origin of an extremely popular citizens’ petition in this alpine country of 9 million inhabitants. Seeking to enshrine in the Constitution “the right to pay in cash in an unlimited way”, their text had already received more than 465,000 signatures on Sunday, September 25. This is much more than the 100,000 required to launch a debate in Parliament, in accordance with the rules for citizen petitions in Austria. “And we collect 10,000 additional signatures per hour”rejoices the carpenter Binder, who makes his fight a crusade against a state he suspects of wanting to infiltrate everywhere. “Cash is freedom. »
79% of payments made in cash
The activism of this Austrian duo is due to a measure currently under discussion in Brussels: the introduction of a cash payment ceiling of 10,000 euros throughout the European Union (EU). Proposed in July 2021 by the European Commission to strengthen the fight against the laundering of dirty money, it is still under discussion between the Council (representing the Member States) and the European Parliament, but it could well succeed, by to December. If adopted, it will probably have no impact in France, where cash payments have already been capped at 1,000 euros since 2015, but that is something else in Austria, where there is no limit so far.
As in Germany or in southern Europe, the Austrians remain fierce users of cash and it is not uncommon to see them pay for their purchases at the supermarket with bundles of 200 euro notes. According to the latest statistics from the European Central Bank, dating from 2019, 79% of payments are made in cash in Mozart’s homeland, compared to 59% in France. Covid-19 has certainly reduced the use of cash to 66% of payments in 2020, according to a study by the Austrian central bank, but it remains “the favorite means of payment for people living in Austria”she recalls.
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