Seven EU Nations Collaborate to Promote Blockchain Use

Seven member countries of the European Union (EU) have come together and formed a new group called Mediterranean Seven to promote the development and use of blockchain technology. These seven member nations include Italy, France, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Greece, and Portugal. These Tuesday, December 4, all these nations signed a joint declaration in Brussels providing the details of this partnership.

All the Southern European nations have come together to “transform” their economies and become “a leading region in this sector”. The declaration notes that blockchain can prove to be a “game-changer” in improving the transparency and efficiency of the government services. It further mentions that blockchain has wide application across healthcare, education, transport, and customs. The technology can service the EU citizens while bringing ” accountability and privacy for the end-users.”

The document states that in the future, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) will turn out to be an integral part of several other developments like Artificial Intelligence, 5G telecommunication networks, and Internet of Things (IoT).

The latest declaration also address handling the future regulations in this economic bloc. It says: We believe that any legislation on Distributed Ledger Technologies should take into account the decentralized nature of such technology and should be based on European fundamental principles and technological neutrality. It should also allow innovation and experimentations in order for the public and private sector to better understand the Distributed Ledger Technologies and to develop use cases”.

Soon after the declaration was signed, Malta’s parliamentary secretary for digital economy - Silvio Schembri - lauded this move saying that he is “proud” of his EU nation to take a “leading role” in blockchain cooperation. In the last year, Malta has taken several initiatives to earn the crown of being a “Blockchain Island”

However, the European Union is yet to announce any regulatory measures in the blockchain space. Last month, the European Commission introduce a special program to finance the study of the blockchain sector.

The Commission noted: "This feasibility study will be carried out to assess the opportunity, benefits, and challenges of creating at EU level an enabling framework or infrastructure supporting blockchain-based services. The study will assess if, when and how blockchain technologies may help public authorities to deliver European services and implement policies in an optimized way.”