The Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups have tabled two joint amendments to the annual report by Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgian) on the activities of the European Central Bank (ECB), with the aim of supporting the rapid introduction of the digital euro as a tool for strengthening European sovereignty. The ECB's balance sheet will be debated in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Monday 9 February, followed by a vote at midday on Tuesday.
“A positive vote in plenary could tip the balance in favour of the advocates of a digital public currency, who are opposed to the main negotiator of the text, the Spanish MEP Fernando Navarrete”, Stanislas Jourdan, a researcher at the Sustainable Finance Lab, a think-tank on the sustainable economy, told Agence Europe on Friday.
In the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), MEPs are at loggerheads over the draft report on the digital euro by Mr Navarrete Rojas (EPP), who favours seeking solutions from commercial banks (see EUROPE 13797/21).
See the amendments tabled: https://aeur.eu/f/kmx
The digital euro could boost private payment solutions, according to Mr Cipollone. On Friday in Nicosia (Cyprus), ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone warned against legislative delays that could hamper the emergence of new private solutions.
“The digital euro, thanks to its legal tender status, would create a European standard – a common set of rails on which private payment solutions can operate and innovate”, he said. He added that: “The rapid adoption of the regulation on the digital euro has become urgent in order to exploit the synergies between public and private solutions and reduce our dependence on foreign companies”. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)