Slovenia has become the third European Union country to constitutionally protect the right to pay in cash, following Hungary and Slovakia.
The Slovenian parliament approved the amendment on Monday with 61 votes in favour out of 90. The new constitutional article states that every person has the right to use cash for banking transactions and other legal dealings, as long as it complies with national law. Slovenia is now the third EU member state to give cash the highest level of legal protection.
Cash will not be entirely unrestricted. Under existing EU rules, cash payments must be accepted only up to €5,000, a limit that the new constitutional clause cannot override. Even so, the European Central Bank welcomed the reform, saying it supported efforts to strengthen “the availability and acceptance of cash.”
Slovenia’s decision follows similar moves in neighbouring Hungary and Slovakia, which in 2025 added the right to cash payments to their own constitutions. Hungary’s amendment went further, tying the protection of cash to concerns about digital vulnerabilities and financial exclusion, while Slovakia’s version allows businesses to refuse cash only for clearly justified practical reasons.
Together, the three countries have become the first in the EU to hard-wire cash protection into their basic laws at a time when several governments are encouraging a shift toward digital payments.
