Digital euro debate begins in European Parliament

The European Parliament is set to discuss the launch of a digital euro, a new electronic payment system developed by the European Central Bank (BCE). This initiative aims to establish a European alternative to dominant US payment giants such as Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal.

"The digital euro will simply offer an additional option for consumers and guarantee their freedom of payment in an increasingly digital daily life," explained Alessandro Giovannini, an advisor on the project at the BCE. He also highlighted that the digital euro presents an opportunity to end a long-standing dependence on foreign payment systems. Currently, nearly two-thirds of card payments in the eurozone are processed by non-European companies, and many eurozone countries lack their own national card systems for everyday transactions.

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The digital euro will simply offer an additional option for consumers and guarantee their freedom of payment in an increasingly digital daily life.

The digital euro will maintain parity with physical currency and can be accessed by creating a dedicated account. Users can then transfer funds to this account and make payments online, in stores, or between individuals using various methods, including payment cards, banking apps, or mobile phones. The system is designed to respect user privacy, with transaction anonymity and an offline mode offering the same confidentiality as cash. The BCE is collaborating with e-commerce stakeholders to integrate this new payment method.

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it is also an opportunity to end a dependence with which we have put up for too long.