The European Commission is today proposing to make cross-border payments in euro cheaper across the whole EU. This will eliminate the barriers that prevent consumers and businesses in non-euro countries from taking full advantage of the single market under the same conditions as those in the euro area. Since the introduction of the cross-border payments regulation in 2001, consumers and businesses in the euro area have benefited from very low fees for cross-border payments in euro. With the new proposal, all Europeans will be able to transact cross-border, in euro, at the same cost as they would pay for a domestic transaction.