Card payments dominated European non-cash transactions in 2025, reaching 57%. Despite this growth, the EU faces significant dependency on foreign payment providers. Thirteen eurozone countries rely heavily on US firms, with Visa and Mastercard processing 47% of the region's card payment value last year.
The absence of a unified pan-European payment system fragments the single market, hindering Europe's competitiveness and impacting daily transactions. Deteriorating EU-US relations raise concerns about potential financial isolation for Europeans, drawing parallels to Russia's 2022 experience.
In response, WERO is presented as a key initiative aiming to restore Europe's monetary sovereignty and control over its financial flows.