Press release - Digital euro: MEPs want to ensure sovereignty, privacy and financial stability

Digital euro: MEPs want to ensure sovereignty, privacy and financial stability
- Secure, private and free-to-use means of payment, both online and offline
- Privacy safeguards built in
- Limits to individual holding, pilot testing and coordinated public awareness campaigns
The digital euro would offer citizens and businesses a private, secure and innovative way to pay, while reducing reliance on non-EU providers.
On Tuesday, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee adopted its position on the single currency package, consisting of three files. The one on the establishment of the digital euro was adopted by 43 votes to 14, with 1 abstention.
The digital euro would be a new, electronic form of money issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) and would work online and offline. Online payments would be processed through an account-based system, while offline payments would work directly via local storage devices. The offline functionality would be equivalent to using physical cash, as losing the device would mean losing the offline money with no refund possible.
Privacy
Privacy-by-design and privacy-by-default principles would be built into the digital euro. Cutting-edge technologies, such as “zero-knowledge proofs”, would allow transactions to be verified without exposing personal data, which would be processed only to the extent strictly necessary for the system to function. The ECB would not have access to personal identification data.
Distribution model
All payment service providers (PSPs), including banks, e-money providers, post offices, and regulated crypto-asset providers, could distribute the digital euro across the EU. Most businesses would be required to accept it. Exceptions would apply to the self-employed, and small and micro enterprises that do not accept other digital payments.
Temporary refusals, such as during a power outage, would also be allowed under specific conditions. Visitors, tourists and, in some cases, people living outside the euro area would also be able to use it.
Fees and charges
Basic services, such as opening an account, holding and managing funds, and getting at least one payment instrument, would be free of charge. PSPs could charge for extra services, with the exception of account maintenance inactivity penalties or service bundling. Fees for merchant and inter-provider would be capped, while offline payments would be entirely fee-free.
Financial stability and holding limits
To protect the financial system, there would be a cap on how many digital euros any individual could hold. MEPs proposed the EU ceiling should be set by the Commission, based on ECB recommendations, and reviewed at least every two years. MEPs want the Parliament to have full decision-making powers in this process.
Businesses would not be allowed to hold digital euros, except to accumulate incoming payments for up to 24 hours. Crucially, the digital euro would not earn or cost any interest.
Seamless launch and the ECB's role
MEPs want to ensure that the ECB's role would be kept separate from its monetary policy functions. Before the launch, the ECB should finalise a rulebook, build the infrastructure, run real-life pilot tests, and iron out liability rules with particular attention to offline risks, like double-spending. Once authorised, a roll-out period of at least 24 months would follow, giving banks, providers, and users time to prepare. Governments and providers would also run awareness campaigns.
The single currency package
A second file on the provision of digital euro services by payment services providers incorporated in member states whose currency is not the euro, adopted by 43 votes to 9, with 6 abstentions, would allow banks and PSPs from non-euro EU countries to distribute the digital euro, subject to the same rules, while the ECB would retain the power to restrict access and use. Non-euro EU member states would also need to appoint a national authority to monitor any impact on their own currency.
A third file, on legal tender of euro banknotes and coins, adopted by 46 votes to 4, with 8 abstentions, would oblige euro area countries to keep cash accessible and plan for digital payment disruptions. Businesses would not be allowed to ban cash through "no cash" signs or standard contract terms. Member states would also need to check cash availability regularly, with special attention to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, low-income individuals, and the unbanked.
Quote
Rapporteur Fernando Navarrete Rojas (EPP, ES) said: “With the single currency package, we are protecting citizens’ freedom to choose how they pay. We are strengthening access to and acceptance of cash, while making central bank money available in digital form. The digital euro will complement cash, never replace it. No one should be forced away from cash, and no one should be left without a secure, resilient and genuinely European digital payment option.
“Europe does not have to choose between the digital euro and successful private payment solutions. We need both to work together. The agreement rightly recognises the dual approach: existing standards and infrastructure should be reused wherever possible. This will allow European payment solutions to connect to a common acceptance infrastructure and become interoperable across borders.
“The agreement also ensures that privacy will be built into the digital euro from the outset. Europeans will gain a secure digital payment option while remaining in control of both their money and their personal data.”
Next steps
The negotiating mandates for the three texts will be announced at the start of the July plenary session. The final legislation will have to be negotiated with the Council before coming into force.
Contacts:
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Dorota KOLINSKA
Press Officer (PL)