Europe Without Visa and Mastercard

B1 –  Intermediate 

A big part of Europe’s payment system depends on Visa and Mastercard which are both American companies.

European leaders think it is risky that Europe depends on foreign companies for an essential part of its economy. It is now Europe’s objective to build its own payment system.

Listen to the audio and read the transcript about Europe’s dependence on American companies for their payment system.

https://www.newsinlevels.com/products/can-europe-be-without-visa-and-mastercard-level-3

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What is a “digital wallet”? “One new solution is Wero, a digital wallet created by European banks and payment companies.” Use the term in a sentence. Give a synonym. 
  2. What does “middleman” mean here, “It uses instant bank transfer to remove the middleman, reduce fees, and keep data inside Europe.”? Use the word in a sentence. Give a synonym. 
  3. What does “political pressure” mean? “The European Central Bank warns that strong reliance on a foreign system can lead to political pressure or a sudden problem.” Use the phrase in a sentence. Give a synonym. 

Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the reasons Europe wants their own payment system.
  2. What do you think about Europe’s payment system being dependent on foreign system? What problems can originate from this?
  3. What is your opinion about Europe building its own independent payment system? Talk about its advantages and disadvantages.
  4. Share your thoughts on this, “EU leaders say the payment system is key infrastructure, and infrastructure gives power.”
0.00 avg. rating (0% score) - 0 votes

Related posts:

  1. Europe’s Night Trains B1 – Intermediate Europe’s night trains offer a unique and pleasing way to travel across...
  2. Drought Hits Europe’s Rivers and Crops B2 – Upper Intermediate The scorching heat is an ongoing problem face by all of...
  3. Digital Nomad Work Visa in Caribbean Islands B1 – Intermediate Digital nomads are workers who often work remotely from places to places....
  4. The West Outsources More IT Jobs to Eastern Europe B1 – Intermediate Every company wants to reduce its costs. Some Western European companies outsource...
  5. UK Leaving Europe is Bad for Science B2 – Upper intermediate One of the main principles of EU membership is “free movement”....

2 replies on “Europe Without Visa and Mastercard”

1. it’s like a credit card but it’s not a physical credit card. It’s a virtual credit card and you can use that for buy safely.
2. it’s a person or company that acts like a intermediary between one thing and another… and collect/earn money for that.
3. when one country can ask your country things that your country doesn’t want to do but your country has to do that because depends to the other country

1. for be free and independent
2. another countries can have a lot of information about us, and can affect us if there are a war…
3. The clear advantage is independence from other countries.

Some disadvantages may be that people and businesses are not used to this new method
that being something new it might have problems
that we have difficulty communicating economically with other countries. that we have trade problems
4 i agree

Interesting insights about this topic! Well done writing your answers.

Here is a sentence you can revise:

It’s a virtual credit card and you can use that for buy safely.

It’s a digital credit card and you can use it to pay online safely.

Keep practicing your writing through this exercise.

Leave a Reply

Only registered students can submit comments.