EU Parliament Gives Digital Euro Its Blessing

That’s according to a report by Reuters on Tuesday (Feb. 10), which said lawmakers’ blessing matters as the European Central Bank (ECB) needs Parliament’s legislative approval before it can issue a digital euro and meet its target of a 2029 debut.

As Reuters noted, the ECB has been working on a digital euro to preserve the role of central bank money as the digital economy grows, and to lessen reliance on non‑European payment providers such as Visa and Mastercard.

The same thinking has led groups like the European Payments Initiative to launch Mero, an alternative to Apple Pay.

The digital euro project, Reuters points out, has seen pushback from banking groups in places like Germany. Progress also slowed down, with draft legislation on hold for two years, much longer than the EBC anticipated.

According to the report, ministers also approved two amendments to parliament’s resolution on the ECB’s 2025 annual report, calling for a digital euro that allows for equal access to payment services and offers a new form of public money that works both online and offline.

Lawmakers also stressed that a digital euro is essential to strengthening EU monetary sovereignty and deepening the single market while lessening retail payment fragmentation.

“These votes are a big win for the progress of the digital euro,” said Laura Casonato, head of policy at Positive Money Europe, a not‑for-profit group that lobbies for a digital version of cash. “There is now a clear parliamentary majority in favour of an inclusive future form of cash — money in digital form backed by the central bank, making it safe.”

Reuters added that the parliament also pushed the ECB to increase its monitoring of crypto‑assets, cautioning that the shift to digital payments, if left in the hands of private and non‑EU providers, could lead to new forms of exclusion for consumers and merchants.

Speaking with PYMNTS last month, Ryan Rugg—Citi’s global head of digital assets for Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS)–said that government-backed digital currencies could be losing momentum, especially as private-sector stablecoins advance.

“It’s been very quiet,” Rugg told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster. “Stablecoins have kind of taken over the narrative.”

Much of the original CBDC push was rooted in fears of losing monetary control to private issuers or tech giants, along with the limits of aging infrastructure.

“Most central banks were built for batch settlement,” Rugg said. “They weren’t designed to be 24/7.”