In recent years, however, there has been demand to use the system in a different way, to send payments into consumers’ accounts in real time. These demands flowed initially from the government looking to ensure benefit payments reach recipients as quickly as possible – for example, when providing emergency funds after a natural disaster.
The Lisbon Treaty sets out several restrictions regarding the transfer of sovereignty from the national to the European level: •  Sovereignty in the Union rests with the Member States.