EU-Regierungen einigen sich auf digitalen Euro als wichtigen Schritt für das Projekt

By Mark Shreoers & Alexander Weber.

European Union governments agreed on a common position on the digital euro, marking an important milestone for the project that’s seen as crucial for the bloc’s monetary sovereignty and the joint currency’s global role as the US touts dollar-denominated stablecoins.

“The digital euro is an important step toward a more robust and competitive European payment system, and can contribute to Europe’s strategic autonomy and economic security, as well as a strengthened international role for the euro,” Danish Economy Minister Stephanie Lose said Friday in a statement published by the EU’s Council. Denmark currently holds the Council’s rotating presidency.

The Council’s negotiation mandate stresses that “both its online and offline functional modalities are necessary and essential and both should therefore be available from the first issuance of the digital euro.” That’s in line with the European Central Bank’s position, but contrasts with a proposal by Fernando Navarrete, a leading European Union lawmaker on the topic.

The ECB launched its digital-euro push in 2021, but is still awaiting the necessary legal framework. The European Commission issued its proposal in 2023. However, it took more than two years for member states to agree on a common approach. As next step, the European Parliament needs to finalize its own position before negotiations between lawmakers and the Council can start.

Provided national governments and the parliament strike a deal next year the ECB may start a pilot phase in 2027, with a possible launch envisaged for 2029. Policymakers are increasingly worried about an over-dependence on US firms like Visa, Mastercard and PayPal for payments. Additionally, concerns have been swirling that stablecoins championed by US President Donald Trump could gain a foothold in Europe.

In October, Navarrete, a member of the center-right European People’s Party, published his report in which he proposed an online version only if the private sector doesn’t come up with its own solution. The ECB has pushed back against this idea, saying both versions would be needed to reap the full benefits of the digital money.

To avoid harming financial stability, governments emphasized the need for customer holding limits. Euro-area finance ministers had reached an accord on how to set these earlier this year, which foresees a close cooperation between the ECB and the Council.

The Council’s statement published Friday also lays out the framework for how payment service providers shall be compensated. “During a transitional period of at least five years, interchange and merchant service charges will be capped at a level based on fees for comparable means of payments. “After the transitional period, fee caps will be set based on the actual costs associated with the digital euro,” it said.

This is a pretty big milestone, but it’s still far from being rolled out. Governments agreeing on the framework doesn’t automatically mean a digital euro is coming tomorrow the real debates will be about privacy, offline use, and how much control institutions have. A lot of public trust will depend on those details.

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If you think the Digital Euro is positive in any sort of way, you are sheep.

Anyone supporting this shit is just a bootlicking idiot.

The idea of not relying on Visa and Mastercard sounds great to me. However it needs to work everywhere and all EU countries must implement it together for it to be even remotely relevant.