French finance minister Bruno Le Maire has renewed his criticism of Facebook's Libra currency project in a speech at the Global Blockchain Policy Forum organised by the OECD. Le Maire used his Twitter account to highlight the key points of his presentation, stating that “we should refuse the development of Libra in Europe” under current conditions. As an alternative, he proposed to “work on the creation of a digital public currency”, while acting to “improve the efficiency of our common payment system.”
The speech follows previous interventions by the minister against Facebook’s proposed virtual currency, most recently at a G7 meeting in July. The project has also attracted opposition from other policymakers and regulators in the United States and Europe.
Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for the Libra Association, told Reuters that the most recent statements from Le Maire “further underscore the importance of our ongoing work with regulatory bodies and leadership around the world.”
Headquartered in Geneva, the association oversees Facebook's planned crypto currency. It intends to apply to become a licensed payments system in Switzerland, where the country’s financial authority has recently issued an assessment on the type of rules that Libra would face to obtain a licence.
