Sunday 15th August 2021
Fight against money laundering
France calls for a new cash limit
A move from Paris should soon cause heated discussions in Germany: The French are pushing for a Europe-wide restriction on cash transactions in Brussels. In France, the legal limit is 1000 euros.
France is in favor of a lower limit for payments with cash than the EU Commission has proposed. In talks with the finance ministers of the EU countries, the French representative made it clear that the proposal for a cash limit of 10,000 euros would not go far enough for his country, reports “Welt am Sonntag”. There is still no official demand. According to the newspaper, various informants who are familiar with the talks between Paris and Brussels have confirmed the information.
In mid-July, the EU Commission called for tougher action against money laundering. In addition to a new supervisory authority at EU level, the Brussels authority has a cash limit of 10,000 euros in mind. Similar, in some cases significantly lower, limits already exist in the majority of member states, but not in countries like Germany or Austria.
In everyday life, cash payments of the magnitude in question play an important role, for example in the private used car trade. The freedom of cash enables direct business transactions on site immediately after the agreement. Buyers and sellers do not have to wait for promised transfers, but can hand over the car immediately in exchange for the money.
In Germany, consumer advocates also insist on the right to “anonymous shopping”. An upper limit for the use of cash would open a “gate to absolute control of consumers”, warned the board of directors of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations, Klaus Müller. In the debate about the introduction of the cash limit, there is talk of “national sensitivities” which Brussels should respect.
Proponents of the cash cap point to the enormous scope of the money laundering problem in Europe. Huge sums – including from illegal sources – are estimated to flow unhindered by the tax authorities. The European Court of Auditors puts the volume of suspicious transactions within Europe at “several hundred billion euros” per year. Cash payments enable criminals, for example, to feed their income from forced prostitution, the international arms trade, drug deals or protection rackets largely risk-free into the legal economic cycle.
A maximum of 1000 euros?
For the French government, the public interest in containing the money laundering loopholes outweighs the free movement of cash. According to “Welt am Sonntag”, however, there has not yet been any announcement from France as to which limit Paris will specifically envisage. So far, there has been an upper limit of 1,000 euros for cash payments, which increases to 10,000 euros for foreign visitors. Larger amounts of money must be paid by bank transfer or credit card.
The handling of cash is currently handled very differently in Europe at the national level. In Italy, cash withdrawals up to 2999 euros are possible without proof. In Spain this limit is 2500 euros. The EU Commission is working on a uniform regulation. However, an agreement has not yet been reached.
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