Third, in some countries, such as Spain and Germany, in relative terms more direct debits are used than other instruments, whereas in others, such as Poland, their use is infrequent. Fourth, cheques are still widely used in the two new euro countries, Malta and Cyprus, as well as France.
But in almost all other countries, little use is made of cheques and their decline is increasing. While these examples show that EU Member States have different preferences for payment instruments, it is not possible, nor advisable, to present a single payment solution for the EU, or beyond, on a global level.