On Tuesday 11 February, in a report on the European Central Bank’s 2024 activities, the European Parliament called for the introduction of a digital euro to be the subject of a “political decision“ (378 votes in favour, 233 against, 26 abstentions).
MEPs adopted an amendment tabled by Marco Falcone (EPP, Italian) (501 votes in favour, 17 against, 120 abstentions), according to which any decision to issue a digital euro should not be taken exclusively by the ECB Governing Council but, given its “political” nature, should “be taken by the legislators of the European Union”. They justify this approach on the grounds that creating a digital euro will have a “major impact“ on a wide range of areas, such as “privacy, consumer protection, financial stability and other areas outside the strict scope of monetary policy”.
During the plenary session vote, a majority of MEPs from the EPP, ECR and PfE groups did not endorse the idea of the Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs to invite the ECB to launch a broad information campaign on the digital euro in order to allay public concerns (262 votes in favour, 315 against, 58 abstentions).
In its report, Parliament does not call into question the work aimed at introducing the digital euro, but believes that this project “will only become a success story if it brings tangible added value for European citizens”.
During the previous day’s debate, ECB President Christine Lagarde had tried to allay MEPs’ fears. In her view, introducing a digital euro will guarantee the resilience and public good nature of payment systems in the Eurozone and provide a platform for private innovation in digital payments. The monetary institute also assures that the digital euro will not replace cash.
At the European Parliament, Fernando Navarrete Rojas (EPP, Spanish) is now in charge of leading discussions on the legislative package on establishing the euro (see EUROPE 13392/22). In their report, MEPs note that the EU’s co-legislators will have to find “the right balance“ on issues relating to maximum holding limits for the digital euro, respect for privacy and competition with private payment providers.
See the European Parliament resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/ffu (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)