The European Parliament supported the digital euro with 70% of votes in favour. The ECB selects 36 entities for the pilot starting in September 2027.
The digital euro project is progressing steadily. The European Parliament voted last week in favour of creating this digital currency with nearly 70% support, a backing that provides crucial democratic legitimacy for its development, as explained by Piero Cipollone, a member of the Executive Committee of the European Central Bank (ECB), in an interview published this Wednesday.
A democratic backing that clears doubts
The vote in the European Parliament marks a milestone. Cipollone highlighted that the process has been participatory and transparent: merchants, citizens, banks, and central banks outside the eurozone were heard. The result is a design that, according to the ECB, guarantees freedom of choice in payments.
However, not everyone is convinced. The main concerns stem from privacy protection and fears of mass surveillance. Cipollone responded that the digital euro is designed to offer the highest level of privacy possible with current technology: in offline payments, the level of anonymity will be similar to that of cash; in online payments, the ECB will not know who is making the transaction, only the user's bank.
Pilot in September 2027 with 36 entities
The ECB has already selected participants for the pilot phase. From the more than 50 applications received, 36 entities from across the eurozone were chosen, including two from France: BPCE (a group that includes Banque Populaire, Caisse d'Épargne, and Crédit Coopératif) and Worldline, a payment processing specialist.
The pilot will begin in September 2027 and will last for 12 months. Merchants, banks, and, as users, employees of the ECB and national central banks will participate. It will be a small-scale test to assess real operations.
A cheaper business model for merchants
One of the points that interests merchants the most is cost. In the current card system, up to six actors are involved (customer, merchant, banks, processor, and the card brand such as Visa or Mastercard), and the merchant pays a percentage of each transaction.
With the digital euro, the ECB will not charge fees for using the scheme or for processing. This will generate savings that, according to Cipollone, will be shared between banks and merchants. The exact distribution will be decided by lawmakers, but merchants will benefit from a maximum limit on the fees they pay. Additionally, they will be required to accept the digital euro for digital payments, just as is currently the case with cash.
For citizens, the digital euro will be a new form of payment that is free to use in its basic form, although the number of digital accounts each person can have is yet to be defined.
Cybersecurity: top priority
Security is another major concern. The ECB already manages critical payment systems, such as T2, which moves an amount equivalent to the annual GDP of the eurozone every eight days. It also operates securities settlement systems and instant payments. All meet the highest cybersecurity standards, and the digital euro will be subject to the same controls.
The ECB is aware of the risks posed by artificial intelligence but relies on its experience to ensure the integrity of the system.
In summary, the digital euro is not just a technical project: it is a response to the evolution of the economy, where a third of transactions are already online, and also a matter of sovereignty, as much of the payment infrastructure in Europe is not in European hands. The 2027 pilot will be the litmus test before a possible general launch.
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