BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government is against giving regulatory approval for Facebook’s Libra digital currency in the European Union, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, citing a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

“As soon as an issuer of a digital currency dominates the market it becomes difficult for competitors,” conservative lawmaker Thomas Heilmann told Spiegel, adding that the Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners were of the same view.

The German government was open to the idea of creating a public digital currency, it said.