There is hope. Here in Norway, we have a parallel system called BankAxept handling card and online payments within the country. Most/all debit cards are dual, and Visa is only used as a fallback. I believe lobbying for a similar system in other countries, or better yet for the EU as a whole, would be a good way to get started.

Welcome! I migrated when the old Reddit apps stopped working, and the grass is indeed greener on this side, except for the non-English communities.

Now I dont know much about simple living as a movement, but how do you then avoid digital cluttering? At least for me, digital bookkeeping had become a significant part of my daily work.