The European Central Bank (ECB) has changed its push to issue a digital euro, drawing pushback from EU lawmakers to privacy protections and potential risks to commercial banks.
ECB board member Piero Cipollone said A Parliamentary Economic Committee on Thursday a Digital Euro “Ensure that all -europeans can pay all the time with a free, accepted general digital payment method, even with major interruptions.”
Some parliamentaries have pushed back to concerns that digital currency will not protect the user’s privacy, and that the offer of accounts supported by the central bank will reduce the private sector.
Law for Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) has been before the European Parliament since 2023, and faced delays amid political concerns and the election in 2024.
Digital Euro seen as fallback in crisis
Cipollone of ECB said the core of Bloc’s Digital payment systems came from non-EU providers, which could hinder the “capacity to act quickly and to be in the middle of the crisis times.”
He built the digital euro as a fallback in cases of cyberattacks or network outages, and mentioned US efforts to promote stablecoins supported by dollars.
Cipollone said a digital euro “complement physical cash, which remains key to stability and companionship,” but added that digital payments are “essential to the day -to -day life,” which the government hopes to ensure.
Lawmakers warn in privacy, risks to banks
Some lawmakers have raised concerns about the privacy implications of a digital euro and the risk that EU citizens will choose to bank with ECB on a commercial bank, as it will show a safer choice.
In privacy, Cipollone emphasized that the central bank “does not know anything about paying and paying” and that an offline solution for digital currency “would be as good as cash in terms of maintaining people’s privacy.”
Pierre Pimpie of the right -winged Eurosceptic Patriots for the Europe Group said “Accounts with private banks may be empty” due to a digital Euro and get an ECB issue with control over setting a cover on user accounts, which he has argued that the bank can raise in a crisis.
Cipollone said the central bank cover will be set “based on strict analysis” and added that if corporations and wealthy individuals “see a crisis in Europe, it will take them a second to buy a stablecoins that denominated with another currency.”
Related: ECB president calls to meet risks from non -EU stablecoins
“The digital euro at that point is the least of our problems,” he added.
ECB Eyes 2026 Law, rollout by 2029
Cipollone said the ECB is working under the assumption that the digital euro law will take place in the second quarter of 2026.
Three EU institutions should greenlight the digital euro, including the Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council. Talks to them can take months.
After passing the law, which may be late in mid -2026, the ECB will have to create and test the digital currency infrastructure, which can take up to three years, putting a potential launch around 2029 if no delays have occurred.
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