A cross-party coalition of members of the European Parliament blamed and argued with the European Central Bank(ECB) for picking Amazon, a U.S. retail giant, to help develop the digital euro.
Central banker Fabio Panetta met with furious lawmakers when he showed up to a morning meeting of the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee with a pre-prepared speech on the currency’s design features.
Center-left lawmaker Eero Heinäluoma said, “We know that the reputation of Amazon in terms of social and tax policy is questionable, I have to say.”
He mentioned the 746 million euros ($720 million) fine that data protection authorities levied on the company last year for allegedly violating privacy laws; the company has since filed an appeal.
Lawmakers questioned whether Panetta’s choice would undermine the goals of the digital euro-to keep EU payments competitive and free from foreign meddling.
Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, a lawmaker from French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renew Europe coalition asked, “How do you explain this choice really?”
“In July 2022, you were saying about the digital euro that it would protect the strategic autonomy of European payments and monetary sovereignty… You were also saying that a digital euro would help to avoid market dominance. Three months later, we’ve been announced that Amazon has been selected over 54 companies.”
Moreover, Green Party lawmakers are asking for the decision to be reversed.
Greens’ Ernest Urtasun said, “I would like to know whether you would consider revising the decision.”
Urtasun also asked if Panetta wasn’t worried that “this project – which is essential and that the parliament supported – will not start with a very strong lack of credibility” if Amazon gets the tender.
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Panetta defended his decision by arguing that Amazon had been chosen based on pre-issued criteria. He further clarified that the prototypes Amazon develops would not be re-used later on.
He said, “We wanted to have one merchant, and only one merchant applied. We want to learn [from] the best technology not from the worst one… there are not many companies in Europe that could show their experience in dealing with hundreds of millions of users.”
Panetta said that this exercise will have no impact on the future development on the actual participation to the terms of the digital euro. He believes that there are no consequences of this exercise.
Panetta also mentioned that he is powerless to change the decision now.
Another point that Panetta put forward was that Amazon was not receiving any financial rewards or privileged data about the project or its users for its participation.
This only caused further distress amongst the lawmakers as they believe that the lack of financial rewards implied the company was profiting in some other way.
Amazon declined to comment however they reiterated their previous statement that they were “excited to work with the European Central Bank on their digital euro prototyping exercise.”
