Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President in charge of the euro and social dialogue, spoke at a meeting of the European Parliament confirming that he and his committee are working on the regulation of digital currencies.
Dombrovskis is a leading figure at the European level. He was President of Latvia from 2009 to 2014. From 16th July 2016, following the resignation of the British Commissioner Jonathan Hill, he also became the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Single Capital Market.
“Europe needs a common approach on crypto-assets such as Libra. I intend to propose new legislation on this”.
These are the words of Dombrovskis reported by Reuters.
He also said that the EU, in addition to regulating digital currencies and crypto, must tackle unfair competition, cybersecurity issues and emerging threats to financial stability.
Cryptocurrencies: the EU targets Libra
The Commission chaired by Dombrovskis is also studying the potential anti-competitive behaviour with regard to the cryptocurrency launched by Facebook. In the meantime, France and Germany must also register the ban against Libra.
France refuses to allow the development of Libra, the Facebook stablecoin, on European soil. This was stated by the French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and reported by France24 at the opening of an OECD conference on the challenges posed by cryptocurrency technology. Germany, through the words of the Minister of Finance, has also strongly opposed this possibility.
What about Italy? Alessandra Perrazzelli, Deputy Director-General of the Bank of Italy, used words of caution but at the same time of great openness towards Libra.
