Italy's Meloni may water down cash payments plan after EU talks

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni indicated on Sunday (4 December) that she might alter plans to make it simpler to settle small payments using cash and not cards after talks with the European Commission.

Right-wing Meloni's government presented a budget for 2023 that eliminates fines for retailers refusing to accept cards for payments below €60, in a move seen by some as being against the spirit and commitments made with the EU.

"Until €60, it is not our intention to make retailers accept electronic payments. Meloni stated in a Facebook video that the threshold of €60 is indicative. For me, it could even be lower.

"Besides, there are clearly discussions on this with European Commission because the issue of electronic payment is one of [the EU recovery plan]'s issues, so we have to wait, we'll watch how the discussions end," she said.

Italy is the largest recipient of the EU's post pandemic recovery fund. It will receive approximately €200 billion by 2026. It must also comply with several reform milestones and targets.

One of these was the imposition of sanctions on retailers who refuse to pay their card bills, which was part of the tax evasion measures.

Meloni maintained that making it easier for people to pay cash wasn't a tactic to help tax dodging, which is a common problem in Italy. According to Treasury data, more than 100 million euros of tax are evaded every year.

The same was said about another controversial proposal in the draft budget. It involves raising the cash payment cap to €5,000 from the current limit of €1,000. This will be effective from 1 January 2023.

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