European payment groups including Spain's Bizum, Italy's Bancomat, and Belgium's Wero are forming a joint venture called the European Network for Payments to create a cross-border payments system serving 130 million people. The initiative aims to reduce Europe's dependence on US payment giants Visa and Mastercard and support payment sovereignty as geopolitical fragmentation raises concerns about critical infrastructure access. The Madrid-based network will connect existing national payment systems using European standards and may eventually complement the ECB's planned digital euro.