Ban cash: French minister coins novel idea to battle drug crime

France's Justice minister Gerald Darmanin leaves the weekly cabinet meeting, Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) (Thibault Camus/AP)

As France battles the scourge of drugs crime in its streets, a top minister has raised eyebrows by evoking stopping the use of cash entirely to discourage narcotics deals.

“How do we stop drugs from spreading in our neighbourhoods?” Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, a former interior minister and one of the most high-profile cabinet members, asked in a hearing with the upper house Senate on Thursday.

“There is a fairly simple measure -- the end of liquid cash would prevent the creation of points for drug dealing,” he added.

Unlike in some other European countries, notably Nordic nations, cash remains a relatively essential part of daily life in France, with bakeries and cafes often setting a minimum payment before a card can be used.

In an interview with RTL on Friday, Darmanin, who has expressed interest in standing in 2027 presidential elections, took care to clarify his comments while stopping short of disowning them.

He said cash drug deals are worth “between four and six billion euros” in France each year, of which only “a few million euros” are seized by the authorities.

Cash, he added, “is what enables a large part of the functioning of organised crime, prostitution, and human trafficking.”

But saying he was “realistic” Darmanin, added that stopping cash was “one of the responses but not the only one” to fighting drug crime, which has become an increasingly important political issue in France.

“It’s a public debate that should undoubtedly be had in a presidential campaign, for example,” he said.

Government spokeswoman Sophie Primas said while the issue had been “put on the agenda by the minister of justice” it was “not on the agenda of the government”.

Cash still made up 43 percent of transactions in France last year, according to a study published in December 2024 by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Liquid money is also important in the daily lives of older people and there are also concerns about what would happen in a cash-free country if payment systems suddenly went down.