Facebook's ambitious Libra project has faced many problems in Europe since its announcement in June.
Now, according to Reuters, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire does not want it to be released in the EU, as he says it is unclear exactly how the digital currency will work.
Le Maire stated that there are many systemic economic risks, risks of dominance and the potential for abuse of a dominant market position associated with Facebook's dominance:
All of these concerns about Facebook Libra are serious. So I want to say quite clearly: under these circumstances, we cannot approve the development of Libra on European soil.
In August, the EU Commission reportedly published a competition notice against Libra. Regulators are concerned that Facebook’s Libra could create “potential restrictions on competition” by sharing the data of consumers who use it. In July
, Yves Mersch, a Luxembourg lawyer and member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, called Libra a “pseudo-cryptocurrency.”
He also mentioned that Facebook's goal with Libra is centralized governance, and centralized control, which is completely contrary to the concept of a decentralized currency.
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