Italy is lobbying to exempt merchants from fees on digital euro transactions below €10, aiming to make the European Central Bank’s planned CBDC palatable to small businesses. Card payment fees in Italy currently average around 0.57% per transaction, or roughly €0.28. Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti argued in December 2025 that digital euro acceptance costs need to undercut what merchants currently pay for card transactions. Forza Italia MEPs have proposed amendments that would eliminate merchant and inter-payment-service-provider commissions entirely 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 a ‘no worse off’ principle to ensure merchants do not end up paying more to accept digital euros than they do for comparable existing payment methods.
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