The European Commission has released its legislative plans for a digital euro, with the goal of allowing Europeans to make digital payments for free across the currency zone. Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis argued the CBDC would bring strategic advantages, such as enhancing the integrity and safety of the European payment system and providing everyone, everywhere, for free access to digital payments. European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said she hoped the extra potential options a digital euro brings, such as its use in remote rural areas, could persuade skeptics. The law does not bring the digital euro into being, as it is the European Central Bank (ECB) that needs to decide whether to issue the CBDC. The ECB welcomed the Commission’s plans and confirmed it will decide in the fall whether to move to the next phase of its project. ECB President Christine Lagarde said, We look forward to continuing working together with other EU institutions towards a digital euro to ensure our currency is fit for the digital age.
European Commission Publishes Plans for Digital Euro
