The European Central Bank moves the dates again. The digital euro, which was to be the EU response to the American expansion of Stablecoin and Asian experiments from CBDC, may not see the light of day before mid -2029. According to members of the management board, EBC is an optimistic forecast.
The European Parliament as the main brake of delays
Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB board, did not beat the bush during the Bloomberg Future of Finance event in Frankfurt. According to him, the main problem in the implementation of the Digital EURO project is … the European Parliament. An institution that should wipe trails for European financial innovation has become its biggest obstacle.
Parliament will probably have a position on the digital euro until May 2026
Cipollone said.
It sounds like a diplomatic way to say: they have been sitting over it for five years and still do not know what they want.
Ironic that while Europe is debating, China already launched the pilot version of the digital yuan in 2022. It is true that adoption is reluctant and critics call most CBDC “expensive Fiat replicas”, but at least they work, and do not stuck in parliamentary committees. On the other hand, the great reluctance of the society of Western countries means that work on CBDC has been going on for years. A great example of this is the social rejection of the concept of the digital pound (commonly called Britcoin) by Great Britain citizens.
A compromise that may not be a compromise
Last week, EU ministers achieved a “compromise” on a road map introducing a digital euro, adding limits to having a potential digital currency. Paschal Donohoe, the Irish Minister of Finance, announced it as a success, but it sounds like another bureaucratic obstacle than progress.
The compromise is that before the ECB makes the final decision on the issue, it will be possible to discuss in the Council of Ministers
Donohoe explained.
In other words: even more discussions, even more committees, even more delays.
Digital euro and timeline that did not surprise anyone
The “Digital Euro” project officially began in October 2020. Since then, EBC ended the research phase in November 2023 and moved to the preparatory phase, which is to end in October 2025. It will be five years of “preparation” without any tangible result for citizens.
The nearest milestone is the report of the European Parliament MP, which is to be presented on October 24 this year. After him, parliamentarians will have six weeks to report amendments and another five months for discussions. Mathematics is simple: if everything goes perfectly (and there is no indication that it has), maybe by 2026 we will know if we want a digital euro as a European society.
Skepticism on all sides
The project meets the resistance of banks, legislators, member states and even ordinary users. The main reason is the fears of privacy – understandable, considering that CBDCs give central banks unprecedented control over the flow of money and can theoretically (in fact practically) follow each transaction.
Traditional banks see a threat to their business model in a digital euro, while citizens ask: why do we need it, since we already have non -cash payments? This is a question that European officials still do not have a convincing answer.
The race that Europe is losing
While Europe got stuck in parliamentary procedures, other regions of the world are active. China has been testing the digital yuan for years, Bahamas have had Sand Dollar since 2020, and Nigeria introduced Enair in 2021. Even if these projects do not succeed, at least they exist in reality, and not only in white books.
American Stablecoin, such as USDC or Tether, gain popularity globally, de facto becoming digital dollars without official blessing from the Fed. Europe was to answer a digital euro – now it looks like when it finally introduces them, it may be too late to gain a significant market position.
Is 2029 a realistic term?
Cipollone speaks of half 2029 as a “honest assessment”. Given the pace of work from the last five years, it sounds like further wishful thinking rather than a specific plan. The European Parliament has stories of delaying even smaller technological projects, while the digital euro is a much more politically and technically complicated undertaking.
It is true that CBDC is not only a technical issue, but above all political and social. Requires citizens’ trust, acceptance of banks and a clear regulatory vision. So far, Europe cannot boast of any of these elements in the context of a digital euro.
Maybe instead of further committees and reports, it would be worth asking Europeans if they want a digital euro at all? And if so, what specific problems are to solve. Because so far it looks like a project looking for a problem, not a solution to real needs.
