The EU is currently testing a new payment framework that would make payments faster and easier and also enable very small payments.

This could finally enable micropayments in browsers (well, in Firefox and maybe Safari) which would eliminate intermediaries like Google and all the scummy ad companies and enable websites to work out deals directly with visitors on the spot (pay a very small amount like a cent or a fraction of a cent to read this article).

Obviously, Google will need to be dragged kicking and screaming into this.