Calls to ban cash in war on drugs stirs cash-loving France

A minister’s proposal to ban cash as a crime-curbing measure has reignited public debate in France on the future of paper money and metal coins, still widely used in the country.

The official himself admitted it will take some time and effort to convince French citizens to abandon their tangible money, as there is currently no political consensus on the matter.

French minister claims banning cash will help fight drug crime

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has sparked discussions in France by suggesting that ending cash will improve results in combating narcotics distribution. Use of bank cards and payment apps has been growing in the country, but as the politician recognized, cash is still important for his compatriots.

Darmanin pitched the idea during an appearance at the Senate, the upper house of parliament, on Thursday. His move rekindled debate on the fate of cash in the French Republic, a member of the European Union and its single currency area, the eurozone.

Quoted by La Tribune, he stated:

“How do we stop drugs from spreading in our neighborhoods? There’s a fairly simple measure: banning cash will prevent the establishment of drug dealing points.”

The topic has been a subject of frequent rumors and disinformation campaigns on social media, the French weekly noted in an article, which also emphasized that “access to cash is a sensitive social issue” and “eliminating it would require political consensus and societal support.”

A number of European governments have been trying to reduce its use, including the current one in Spain, where demand for cash spiked amid last month’s catastrophic power outage that disrupted electronic payments and took ATMs out of service.

Gérald Darmanin: "Je l'ai dit (…) à ceux qui m'interrogent pour savoir comment on arrête la drogue dans nos quartiers. Une mesure assez simple : la fin de l'argent liquide empêchera les points de deal" #BFM2 pic.twitter.com/jBjvGMi4KZ

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 22, 2025

Cash is still quite popular in France, where people are often using paper money for everyday purchases, prompting the Bank of France to acknowledge in February that “a very large majority of French people continue to value cash and recognize its many benefits.”

Despite card payments overtaking cash transactions in France for the first time last year, the European Central Bank’s survey on consumer payment habits, published in December 2024, also showed that cash still accounts for 43% of all French payments.

No consensus on ending paper money yet

Speaking in the studio of the French broadcaster RTL on Friday, Gérald Darmanin took a step back for the sake of being “realistic.” Asked to comment on his proposal to fight drug crime by prohibiting physical money, he conceded that authorities “don’t have the political means” to do that right now.

That would “obviously require a long discussion with the French people,” said Darmanin, a former minister of the interior. “It is a public debate that should undoubtedly be raised in a presidential campaign, for example,” he elaborated.

The withdrawal of all cash from circulation in France, leading producer of banknotes and coins in the eurozone, would represent a massive logistical challenge comparable to the introduction of the euro a quarter century ago, La Tribune pointed out. It will also threaten jobs at Banque de France’s paper mill, printing works and minting facility.

Europeans still searching for alternatives to cash

Besides card payments, mobile transactions in France have been growing as well, with their share increasing from 1% in 2019 to 6% of payments last year. However, both of these alternatives raise questions about French and European sovereignty as payment providers, like Visa or Apple Pay, are all American.

The ECB has been promoting its upcoming digital euro currency as an answer to such questions – a sovereign European coin that should allegedly complement, not substitute cash. But the project has caused other concerns, including fears about privacy, which the monetary authority has tried to address.

Despite growing distrust in digital technology, the “elimination of cash” is “definitely on people’s minds,” the French crypto news outlet Journal du Coin insisted in a post, while suggesting that blockchain may be the answer and poking the government official:

“Mr. Darmanin, what’s your opinion on Bitcoin?”

Cryptocurrencies “will become increasingly important,” the minister of justice said in his remarks for French media, as if he had anticipated that question. But they are more “traceable,” he also noted, adding fuel to the ongoing debate in France.

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