The European Payments Initiative – abbreviated to EPI in English – has been given a second chance.

Sure, it's just the small fix.

Instead of a plastic card that is valid throughout Europe, from which the US credit card giants Mastercard and Visa do not earn a lot, at least when used outside the country's borders, it will now only be an app that triggers an instant booking from the customer's account to the retailer, but still: Better than nothing Nothing.

It is all the more incomprehensible that only banks from a handful of the soon to be 20 countries in the euro zone want to support the project – not least – financially.

And in this country, Commerzbank with its largest shareholder, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Unicredit, which defines itself as a European bank, with its German subsidiary Hypovereinsbank, continue to stand prominently on the sidelines.

Of course, the project costs money and probably more than originally planned.

Of course, it will be difficult to reach critical mass.

But what is the alternative?

The ongoing dependence on the US credit card giants Mastercard and Visa, which act as a kind of oligopoly in this country and can turn the screw on the fee almost at will.

This costs retailers margins and customers pay higher prices.

Europe's sovereignty is also defended when paying at the supermarket checkout.