On Monday 9 March, Europe’s finance ministers took stock of the development of digital finance in the European Union at an enlarged Eurogroup meeting. In addition to the digital euro project being promoted by the European Central Bank (ECB), ministers examined the risks and opportunities associated with stablecoins and tokenised deposits denominated in euros.
“Europe is not as far ahead as it should be. 95% of stablecoins worldwide are backed by the dollar, while only 1% are backed by the euro. We need to do more and we need to do more more quickly”, said Eurogroup President, Kyriákos Pierrakákis, on Monday afternoon.
“In Europe, we have taken a very firm stance on adopting the digital euro as a core policy agenda item, the public infrastructure in fact. We plan to do something extra on top of that and unleash private innovation”, he continued.
The ministers’ meeting was punctuated by a presentation from the CEO of Qivalis, the consortium of major European banks, which last December launched preparations for the issuance of a euro-backed stablecoin in the second half of 2026 (see EUROPE 13765/19).
On Monday, EU countries agreed to continue work on this financial aspect on a regular basis.
“We must develop EU payment systems to preserve our monetary sovereignty and strategic autonomy while strengthening the international role of the euro”, said Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Economy, Productivity and Simplification. And he added that: “This is another powerful argument for speeding up as a work to introduce digital euro”.
The Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism, Pierre Gramegna, stressed the importance of the development of digital finance for financial stability in Europe.
A ‘roadmap’ expected in the second half of the year. In particular, France is pressing for the adoption of a ‘strategic roadmap’ in the second half of 2026. The aim is to “accelerate the establishment of a regulatory environment and the implementation of public initiatives favourable to innovation”, said the French Ministry of Economy in a press release on Monday.
Last January, the Franco-German duo announced the creation of a bilateral task force on the future of digital finance. In a joint statement, the partners undertook to present, also in the second half of the year, a full report on the development of euro-denominated stablecoins and on tokenisation (see EUROPE 13789/4). (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)