By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Jan Strupczewski

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – European Union finance ministers will seek to reach a common position on Friday on how to set up a digital euro currency that could become an alternative to the now dominant U.S.-based Visa and Mastercard systems.

Discussions on creating a digital equivalent of the euro currency, now used in 20 European countries, have been going on for six years, but the debate heated up this year because the EU is now keen to reduce its dependence on other countries in key areas like energy, finance and defence.

“We need to go ahead with our own digital payment system to reduce dependency on other providers,” Spanish Finance Minister Carlos Cuerpo told reporters on entering the ministers’ talks in Copenhagen.

“I think that’s a key

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