Le caractère contraignant de ce principe de non-discrimination fera froncer des sourcils, mais il n’y a pas d’alternative : il serait plus grave de laisser aller les choses, car nous accepterions alors ce que craignent les petits entrepreneurs et les consommateurs, à savoir que les avantages de l’euro demeurent intangibles à leurs yeux et que les paiements transfrontaliers continuent à coûter environ 20 euros par transaction.
The binding nature of the non-discrimination rule will raise a few eyebrows, but there is no alternative: leaving things as they are would be worse, for we would then accept what some small businesses and consumers fear, namely that the benefits of the euro will pass them by and that cross-border payments will continue to cost some EUR 20 each.