Europe spends trillions of euros every year on card payments, and almost none of it runs through a European system. Now, the EU wants to change that, can it? Most card or online purchases in Europe go through Visa or Mastercard, two American companies that lead global payments. EU leaders now see this as a risk Europe can't ignore, and they're acting. Wero is a digital wallet created by European banks and payment companies to avoid using card networks. It uses instant bank transfers, which remove middlemen, lower fees, and keep data within Europe. Wero already has tens of millions of users in Germany, France, and Belgium, and it's growing quickly. Two main reasons drive this effort: control and cost. The European Central Bank warns that relying on foreign payment systems leaves Europe open to political pressure or sudden disruptions. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Visa and Mastercard quickly cut off Russia, blocking it from the global payment system almost immediately. ECB President Christine Lagarde has made it clear that most digital payments in Europe now use US or Chinese systems. She says this is a weakness Europe needs to address.