Digital Euro Plans Clear Major Hurdle in EU Parliament

The economic committee gave the green light to the European Central Bank’s proposal for a eurozone-wide digital currency.

A Euro sign at the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, on Nov. 6, 2024. Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

The European Parliament gave its backing on June 23 for the European Central Bank (ECB) to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) version of the euro.

The draft regulation, approved by the European Parliament’s economic committee, states that the introduction of the digital euro would “reduce overreliance on non-European providers by becoming a pan-European means of payment and would bring the single currency into the digital era by giving Union citizens the freedom to opt to pay with central bank money in their daily transactions.”