Debate in Austria Over Enshrining use of Cash in the Constitution
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Many Austrians value their privacy and won't accept someone to keep track how many beers they drink. It may sound like a strange thing to enshrine in a country's constitution: the right to pay cash. But a debate on whether to do just that has entered Austria's election campaign, shining a light on the country's love of cold, hard currency.
The Austrian People's Party (i-VP, EPP-affiliated) recently made the suggestion as part of its campaign for a parliamentary election in late September, for which it has a commanding poll lead. This led to other parties - though sceptical of the i-VP's proposal - vaunting their commitment to protecting cash, with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPi-) demanding an end to fees levied at cashpoints.
And it is not hard to see why all major parties see protecting cash as a vote-winner.
"In Austria, attitudes change slowly," an employee of Weinschenke, a burger restaurant in downtown Vienna, told AFP. The woman in her 30s, who only gave her name as Victoria, says she prefers to use cash because "you don't leave a trace".
Financial law expert Werner Doralt says Austrians put a high value on privacy and are wary of anything that could be used to keep tabs on them, such as card transactions. "If for example I go shopping, and it's recorded exactly how much schnapps I've bought, that's an invasion of my privacy," he says.
A recent survey conducted by the ING bank in 13 European countries, Australia and the US, showed Austrians were the most resistant to the idea of giving up cash payments.
Just 10 percent of those surveyed in Austria said they could imagine doing without cash, compared to a European average of 22%. According to European Central Bank data compiled in 2017, cash accounted for 67% of money spent at points of sale in Austria, compared to just 27% in the Netherlands. Even in neighbouring Germany, another country known for its attachment to cash, the rate is only 55%.
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