The European Commission said today it will put forward new legislation to create a single European payments area for credit and debit cards.
"The whole purpose is to arrive at a single European payments area," Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said of the move, which signals the EC has lost patience with industry efforts to achieve this goal.
The bill will be put forward to the commission in the autumn. Any bill would need approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law.
The banking industry, under the guise of the European Payments Council (EPC), has presented a "road map" for creating a single European payments area by 2008 - but only in the 12-country euro zone.
Mr McCreevy and the European Central Bank want quicker implementation, and the Commissioner signalled he wants the single payments area to cover all the 25-nation bloc.
This would allow citizens to use their credit and debit cards anywhere within the EU to make payments using a single set of payment instruments, as easily and safely as within individual countries.
"You will be aware of the timetable put forward by the European Payments Council, which I have said on a few occasions I am not too happy with," Mr McCreevy said.
"The European Payments Council has set up a particular deadline and we are considering how we can assist them in at least meeting those deadlines, because I don't think they can put it off into the future," Mr McCreevy added.
No EPC official was immediately available for comment.