Digital euro: green light for negotiations

With 416 votes in favour, 169 against and 22 abstentions, Parliament authorised the opening of interinstitutional negotiations on the creation of the digital euro and, by a show of hands, on the provision of related services by payment service providers established in Member States whose currency is not the euro. The political groups Patriots for Europe, European Conservatives and Reformists, and Europe of Sovereign Nations had challenged the decisions, adopted on 23 June 2026 by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

The political groups European Conservatives and Reformists and Patriots for Europe had challenged the decisions adopted on 23 June 2026 by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs to open interinstitutional negotiations on the creation of the digital euro and the provision of related services by payment service providers established in Member States whose currency is not the euro.

A third dossier included in the same legislative package on the single currency, concerning the legal tender status of euro banknotes and coins, was not challenged; consequently, negotiations on this text may also begin, in accordance with Rule 72 of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.

Fernando Navarrete Rojas (EPP, Spain), who is responsible for the parliamentary processing of the three legislative texts, will lead Parliament’s negotiating team. The first round of negotiations with the Irish Presidency of the Council, representing the Member States, is expected to take place shortly.

The main elements of Parliament’s negotiating position include the following:

• The digital euro would be a new form of electronic money issued by the European Central Bank and would function both online and offline.
• The digital euro would incorporate privacy safeguards. Transactions would be verified without disclosing personal data, which would only be processed to the extent strictly necessary for the system to function.
• Most businesses would be obliged to accept payments in digital euros. Self-employed people and small and micro-enterprises that do not already accept other digital means of payment would be exempt.
• Basic services, such as opening an account, holding and managing funds, and access to at least one payment instrument, would be free of charge.
• To protect the financial system, there would be a cap on the amount of digital euros each person could hold.
• Banks and payment service providers in European Union countries outside the euro area would also be able to distribute the digital euro.
• Eurozone countries would be obliged to guarantee access to cash. Businesses would not be allowed to refuse cash payments, and Member States would have to regularly monitor its availability, paying particular attention to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, people on low incomes and those without access to the traditional banking system.