«The Central Bank should put an umbrella» on the banks affected by the secondary sanctions. «Today we don’t have the digital euro, this is the truth. Then there are secondary sanctions, for example to Banca Etica, but not only. There are also other banks that some don’t even disclose for fear of repercussions. I brought up the case of Cuban doctors who are paid by an Italian bank, which, by agreement with the region (Calabria, ed.), also sends part of the payment to Cuba.” These payments are blocked and, “if anyone continues to make them, the entire bank is sanctioned.” This was stated by Pasquale Tridico, head of delegation of the 5 Star Movement in the European Parliament, on the sidelines of the round table «The digital euro: a political and strategic choice for Europe», organized in Brussels by the Institute for Competitiveness and by Tridico himself.
The Banca Etica case and the US OFAC sanctions
«Banca Etica is a very similar situation. There is the ‘Invented Autistics’ association subject to sanctions that we do not recognise. If Banca Etica continues to have this association among its customers, all customers will be sanctioned. It’s an absurd situation. With the digital euro this would not happen”, explains the MEP, recalling the case of the bank which had to suspend the operation of the account of the Tuscan collective after its inclusion in the United States Ofac sanctions lists, to avoid the risk of retaliation which could have blocked the entire operations of the institute and its 130,000 members.
The request to the Central Bank and the ECB’s responses
«We have proposed that the Central Bank take on a sort of umbrella to protect these institutions. We asked this in a letter to Commissioner Albuquerque. I asked a question myself. Yesterday I asked Piero Cipollone from the ECB. They recognize the problem, it’s a lack of sovereignty. They are trying to find solutions, they say,” he concluded.