European Central Bank says digital euro negotiations start this month, targets end 2026 law and 2029 issuance

In an interview, European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said negotiations between the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament on the digital euro legislation will start this month following Parliament’s approval of its text. He said the ECB hopes the final legislation will be agreed by the end of the year, after which it would be in a position to decide on whether to issue the digital euro. Cipollone said the ECB’s target remains a first issuance in 2029, assuming the legislative process is completed by the end of 2026. If the legislation is delayed, the timetable would need to be revisited, but not the project itself. He also said the technical work is advancing under a plan to launch a pilot phase in 2027, and that more than 50 European banks and payment service companies applied to participate, with the selected applicants due to be announced this week. On the legislative substance, Cipollone said the Parliament’s text is broadly aligned with the Commission and Council approach, but the ECB would like the final law to strengthen the requirement for payment service providers to support the ECB’s digital euro app. He said the app is intended to ensure universal access, resilience in exceptional circumstances and accessibility, while the digital euro more broadly is designed to support EU-wide payments on European infrastructure, including offline payments, and to coexist with private payment options such as euro stablecoins.