Italy proposes no fees for digital euro payments under €10

Italy is lobbying to exempt merchants from fees on digital euro transactions below €10, a move designed to make the European Central Bank’s planned CBDC palatable to the small businesses that form the backbone of Europe’s third-largest economy. The proposal lands as final trilogue negotiations between the European Parliament, Council, and Commission are underway in Brussels over the digital euro’s regulatory framework. The fee problem that won’t go away Card payment fees in Italy currently average around 0.57% per transaction, or roughly €0.28. That might sound trivial until you’re a tobacconist processing hundreds of small purchases a day. Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti made the case in December 2025 that digital euro acceptance costs need to undercut what merchants currently pay for card transactions. Forza Italia MEPs have gone further in the European Parliament, proposing amendments that would eliminate merchant and inter-payment-service-provider commissions entirely on low-value retail transactions for a transitional window of three years after launch. The Bank of Italy is also running its own analysis on fee-capping strategies built around what it calls a “no wo...