The European Commission wants to present a legislative proposaldigital euros “inside first half of 2023“to then start negotiations”the European Parliament and the Member States“. This was announced on Vice President of the EU Commission, Valdis Dombrowskisin his speech Joint conference with the ECB on the digital euro.
“European societies and economies are digitizing rapidly, we must embrace the digital age” and “our monetary system must also adapt to a digitized future,” he stressed. In Europe, “there is a clear demand for digital payments’, increased during the pandemic: ‘The ECB – Dombrovskis reported – appreciates that cashless payments in the euro area in 2021 have increased by 12.5% to 114 billion and the The total value was 197.0 trillion euros“. Card payments, which “represented almost half of these transactions.”
“Money is still very important in people’s lives, but its use is declining in many parts of the world” and “a digital euro would complement cash“The EU Vice President also signaled the will to find”a good balance “between the challenges and opportunities that this perspective brings with it. In its proposal, Brussels intends to “change the current role of the banks as intermediaries“, draw in effective digital currency, which can also be used and offered outside the euro areaprivacy and inclusion“, has explained.
“Privacy is of the utmost importance and a major concern of the public. Data protection is a fundamental right that Europe defends,” stressed Dombrovsks. He then asserted that the EU Commission’s commitment guarantees “very strong data protection features, especially for peer-to-peer payments, proximity, similar to cash payments today “without jeopardizing the integrity of the financial system” which is protected from “risks of money laundering and the… terrorist financing” must be protected. In terms of inclusion, the functionalities of the “Euro Digital” must be intuitive, easy to understand and with the possibility of Use “the currency too” offline“Well,” the cash won’t go away. “But Member States will be responsible for this “Promotion of digital skills and financial education as well as bandwidth coverage far,” he concluded.
“The premises are clear: we have a very strong increase in digital payments in the EU and everywhere, and we have to avoid that Competition from digital central bank currencies “in the rest of the world” or from various stablecoins are weakening the Eurosystem – commented on the EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni – The challenge for the European Commission is to soon have a legislative proposal that reflects the work of the ECB,” he explained. Swift action on this issue could therefore be essential. One of the central aspects in the design of the digital euro is “avoidance”. the Danger of encroaching on the sovereignty of other legal systems“and” this leads to the possibility of agreements with other jurisdictions, “also to” avoid undesirable consequences for our system – he explained – The work is progressing very well and I think we will be able to find the right balance and avoid the risk of lagging behind “in the development of digital currency. There are challenges, but we must face them if we want to maintain and strengthen our global dimension,” he pointed out.