Cash and the Next Smokescreen
Op-ed
One could think the cash would be immediately before its abolition. Is that really so?
Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) wants to have the right to cash written into the constitution. A summit in September is to get it right. Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) will set up a task force to prepare the ground. The aim is to secure the right to cash under constitutional law. The FPÖ has been making this demand for years, which is why it is already complaining about the theft of ideas. Now the ÖVP is doing the same. You might think that cash is about to be abolished. Is that really so?
It seems that, once again, key top representatives of the Republic have collectively forgotten that Austria has been a member of the European Union since 1995. They act as if the schilling still existed, as if Austria could decide on its monetary policy on its own. But more than 20 years ago, on January 1, 2002, euro banknotes and coins were introduced as the new European cash.
This was not the beginning, but the end of a development toward a European monetary union. In 1989, on the basis of a report by the then EU Commission President Delors, the heads of government of the member states had decided to enter the first stage of a European economic and monetary union (EMU). The Maastricht Treaty (1992) provided for the further gradual realization of EMU with a single European currency.
As if the schilling still existed
It was thus clear in June 1994, at the time of Austria's referendum on EU accession, where the journey was headed. By joining the Union, Austria gave up its monetary policy and participated in the European Monetary Union.
Since then, monetary matters are no longer a competence of the member states. Thus, Art 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) also stipulates that the Union has exclusive competence in euro monetary policy. Finally, Art 128 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) stipulates that banknotes issued by the European Central Bank and the national central banks are legal tender within the Union. It follows that a monetary obligation can be fulfilled with euro cash.
Now, if a regulation in the Austrian constitution merely repeats what the EU treaties provide anyway, it is meaningless. Only if an Austrian regulation contradicts EU law would it be unlawful and should not be applied. This follows from the primacy of application, a central principle of EU law, according to which, in the event of a conflict with the law of the Member States, Union law takes precedence.
Demand that makes no sense at all
Thus, the demand to enshrine the right to cash in the Austrian constitution is completely devoid of meaning. First, because Austria could not provide for anything else that is not already determined by Union law. On the other hand, because Art 128 TFEU already enshrines the right to pay with cash in European constitutional law.
Conclusion: Chancellor Nehammer wants to solve problems that do not exist. Public finances, inflation, security, education, health, climate: the list of real problems in Austria is long. And so the demand for something that has long existed and that no one questions is just another smoke candle to distract attention from the standstill on the country's major political construction sites.
Op-ed published originally in German in Die Presse on August, 12th, 2023.
