EU lawmakers give digital euro the green light, but rollout still years away

EU lawmakers on Thursday backed kickstarting negotiations on creating a digital version of the euro, as the European Union races to introduce the currency.

Issued on: 10/07/2026 - 21:40

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The digital euro would be an electronic form of central bank money, backed directly by the European Central Bank (ECB) and accessible via a digital wallet, intended to work alongside cash and existing bank accounts rather than replace them.

The project has been years in the making but the EU first needs to agree on the legal framework underpinning the virtual currency before it is available for use.

Lawmakers back the plan

A European Parliament committee had already given its green light but that approval was challenged and there was a call for an assembly vote. An overwhelming majority of lawmakers approved establishing a digital euro.

ECB President Christine Lagarde applauded the vote.

The EU believes a digital euro is the answer to cutting its addiction to US payment systems like Visa and Mastercard as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

According to a recent ECB report, credit card payments are the main electronic payment method in the EU, but international card schemes "accounted for approximately 61 percent of euro area card transactions in 2022" while the domestic market share of national card schemes "is declining."

"We depend predominantly on US, but also sometimes Chinese, networks to organise payments," she says in an interview with Euronews.

"We need to have a European solution because we want to be sovereign at home," she said.

Does Europe really need a 'digital euro'?

That means negotiators from the parliament and EU capitals can start talks to reach a deal by the end of 2026. If they stick to that timeline, the European Central Bank hopes the digital euro would be available to citizens in 2029.

The first meeting of negotiators is expected this month.

There are also plans for a pilot programme in mid-2027 to test how the digital euro would work in practice if there is an agreement by the end of the year.

EU lawmaker Fernando Navarrete Rojas, one of the lead negotiators for the parliament, insisted the digital euro was "an alternative, not a requirement".

He said that those saying the digital euro would be used "as a tool of control" were "lying", stressing there would be the "highest privacy standards".

Digital euro wins key EU backing as lawmakers approve draft rules

Lagarde added that the digital euro is meant to "complement" rather than "replace" cash, and that the project is not designed to trace people's payments.

"Cash and the digital euro will both be legal tender, which means that nowhere in Europe can someone say, 'Sorry, I'm not taking your banknotes'," Lagarde said.

The ECB has proposed holding limits — reportedly around €3,000 per person — partly to reassure banks worried about deposit outflows, and has said offline payments would carry cash-like privacy, with transactions unlinkable to individual users.

(With newswires)