The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee today adopted a negotiating position on the digital euro, backing a new form of central bank money that would work both online and offline, carry no interest, and be free for basic use - while capping how much any individual can hold.

The vote

The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) today adopted its position on the digital euro by 43 votes to 14, with 1 abstention, according to the European Parliament. The vote, held on June 23, 2026, gives the Parliament a mandate to open negotiations with the Council of the European Union - a stage in the legislative process known as trilogues. The negotiating mandates for the three texts in the so-called single currency package will be formally announced at the start of the July plenary session.

The digital euro legislation, registered under procedure reference 2023/0212(COD), has been in the parliamentary pipeline since June 28, 2023, when the European Commission published the original legislative proposal. The ECON committee first referred the file on October 19, 2023, and Fernando Navarrete Rojas of the European People's Party was appointed rapporteur on December 16, 2024, taking over from Stefan Berger, who had held the role since July 2023.

What the digital euro would be

According to the European Parliament, the digital euro would be a new, electronic form of money issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) rather than by commercial banks or private firms. It would have legal tender status, meaning most businesses would be required to accept it. Exceptions would apply to the self-employed and to small and micro enterprises that do not already accept other digital payment methods.

The distinction between online and offline use is technically significant. Online payments would be processed through an account-based system, requiring a connection to the financial infrastructure. Offline payments, by contrast, would work directly via local storage devices - hardware that holds the digital value without needing a network connection. Losing that device would mean losing the offline funds, with no refund available; according to the European Parliament, this makes offline functionality directly equivalent to carrying physical cash.

The digital euro would not be programmable money. According to the original Commission proposal from June 2023, it must be fully fungible - it cannot be restricted to spending on specific goods or services. That provision matters for sovereignty and civil liberties advocates who have expressed concern about the potential for state-directed spending.

Privacy architecture

Privacy protections are built into the committee's position at a technical level. According to the European Parliament, privacy-by-design and privacy-by-default principles would be embedded from the outset. The position relies on cryptographic techniques including what the document describes as "zero-knowledge proofs" - a method that allows a transaction to be mathematically verified as valid without revealing the underlying personal data. Personal data would be processed only to the extent strictly necessary for the system to function. The ECB would not have access to personal identification data under this model.

The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee, whose role in this procedure was as an associated committee, delivered a committee opinion on July 15, 2025, under rapporteur Emil Radev of the EPP. Privacy architecture was a central concern running through LIBE's involvement, which began with an opinion in February 2024.

Fees, access, and who can distribute

Under the ECON position, basic services - opening an account, holding funds, managing balances, and obtaining at least one payment instrument - would be free of charge. Payment service providers could charge for additional services, but account maintenance inactivity penalties and service bundling fees would be prohibited. Fees for transactions between merchants and between providers would be capped. Offline payments would be entirely free.

The distribution model is deliberately broad. According to the European Parliament, all payment service providers (PSPs) - including banks, e-money providers, post offices, and regulated crypto-asset providers - could distribute the digital euro across the EU. Visitors, tourists, and in some cases people living outside the euro area would also be able to use it, extending the reach beyond euro-area residents.

A second file in the single currency package, adopted by 43 votes to 9 with 6 abstentions, would extend distribution rights to PSPs incorporated in non-euro EU member states, subject to the same rulebook. The ECB would retain the power to restrict access and use. Non-euro EU members would additionally need to appoint a national authority to monitor any impact on their own currency.

Holding limits and financial stability

To protect the financial system, individual holdings would be capped. According to the European Parliament, MEPs proposed that the EU ceiling should be set by the European Commission, based on ECB recommendations, and reviewed at least every two years. MEPs want the Parliament to have full decision-making powers in that review process - a deliberate check on the executive's room to manoeuvre.

Businesses would face a stricter constraint: they would not be allowed to hold digital euros at all, except to accumulate incoming payments for up to 24 hours before transferring those funds. The digital euro would earn no interest and carry no negative interest charge. That design prevents the currency from functioning as a savings vehicle or investment instrument, which economists and central bankers have flagged as a risk to bank deposit stability if too much money migrates from commercial bank accounts to the new form of central bank money.

PPC Land has tracked the parallel development of private-sector payment infrastructure in Europe, including Google's announcement in June 2026 at Money 20/20 Europe of planned EU digital ID integration into Google Wallet alongside updates to Secure Payment Authentication that, according to Google's own testing, cut authentication time by 50% and lifted conversions by 3%.

Launch sequence and ECB's role

Before any issuance, the ECB would be required to finalise a rulebook, build the required infrastructure, run real-life pilot tests, and resolve liability rules - with particular attention to offline risks such as double-spending, where the same unit of stored value is attempted to be used twice. Once authorised, a roll-out period of at least 24 months would follow, giving banks, PSPs, and end users time to prepare. Governments and providers would also run coordinated public awareness campaigns during that period.

Crucially, MEPs want the ECB's operational role separated from its monetary policy functions. That institutional separation is designed to prevent the digital euro from becoming a tool of monetary policy in ways that were not originally intended.

Cash protection as the third file

The single currency package includes a third file specifically on the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins, adopted by 46 votes to 4 with 8 abstentions - the strongest majority of the three. That file would oblige euro area countries to keep cash accessible and plan for digital payment disruptions. Businesses would be prohibited from banning cash through standard contract terms or notices. Member states would need to check cash availability on a regular basis, with particular attention to vulnerable groups: the elderly, low-income individuals, and the unbanked.

According to Fernando Navarrete Rojas, the rapporteur, the digital euro would complement rather than displace physical currency: "The digital euro will complement cash, never replace it. No one should be forced away from cash, and no one should be left without a secure, resilient and genuinely European digital payment option."

Sovereignty and the competitive landscape

Finance Watch, the Brussels-based non-profit organisation focused on financial regulation, welcomed the committee outcome on June 23, 2026. According to Finance Watch, Parliament's position is a significant step toward a digital euro that works like cash. The organisation noted that merchants would gain a cheaper alternative to costly private card schemes such as Visa and Mastercard - a framing that positions the digital euro explicitly as a response to market concentration in European payments infrastructure.

Peter Norwood, Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at Finance Watch, stated: "Parliament has found a majority for a digital euro that is more than another payment app. The text keeps the original ambition of the project alive: ensuring inclusive access to public money in an increasingly digital payments landscape, all while protecting European sovereignty."

Finance Watch also urged Parliament and the Council to preserve the current level of ambition during trilogues, noting that the digital euro position extends cash-like payments to the digital world - giving people a public option that works online and offline.

The sovereignty dimension is a thread running through the entire package. According to Navarrete Rojas: "Europe does not have to choose between the digital euro and successful private payment solutions. We need both to work together. The agreement rightly recognises the dual approach: existing standards and infrastructure should be reused wherever possible. This will allow European payment solutions to connect to a common acceptance infrastructure and become interoperable across borders."

PPC Land has covered the broader EU regulatory context around digital payments and platform dominance, including the European Commission's preparation of what would be the largest ever Digital Markets Act fine against Google for self-preferencing in search results.

Use cases in the original proposal

The original Commission legislative proposal published in June 2023 outlined an extensive set of intended use cases. These cover person-to-person, person-to-business, person-to-government, business-to-person, business-to-business, business-to-government, government-to-person, government-to-business, and government-to-government payments. The proposal also explicitly mentioned machine-to-machine payments in the context of Industry 4.0 and payments in what it called the decentralised internet, or web3. Whether those more speculative use cases survive into the final legislation will depend on how trilogue negotiations resolve the text.

What comes next

The negotiating mandates for all three files will be announced at the start of the July 2026 plenary session. Final legislation must be negotiated with the Council before coming into force. The trilogue process, in which representatives of the Parliament and the Council meet with Commission representatives to agree a final text, typically involves multiple rounds and can take months. There is no fixed deadline for the conclusion of those talks.

The rapporteur ran a dense calendar of stakeholder meetings in the lead-up to the committee vote. According to the procedure's published transparency records, Navarrete Rojas met with representatives from institutions including Apple, Mastercard, Deutsche Bank, ING, BNP Paribas, Amazon, the International Monetary Fund, the UK Financial Conduct Authority, and the Dutch Central Bank between February and June 2026. Shadow rapporteurs also held meetings with Rabobank, Santander, Deutsche Bank, and numerous other financial institutions and consumer groups.

Timeline

  • June 28, 2023 - European Commission publishes legislative proposal COM(2023)0369 on the establishment of the digital euro
  • October 19, 2023 - ECON committee referral announced in Parliament, first reading; LIBE designated as associated committee
  • October 31, 2023 - European Central Bank publishes formal opinion CON/2023/0034
  • February 9, 2024 - Committee draft report PE758.954 published
  • February 20, 2024 - LIBE committee opinion PE754.988 published
  • December 16, 2024 - Fernando Navarrete Rojas (EPP) appointed rapporteur, replacing Stefan Berger
  • November 13, 2024 - Resumption of business from the previous parliamentary term
  • July 15, 2025 - LIBE committee opinion PE775.581 published
  • November 3, 2025 - Committee draft report PE778.136 published
  • December 19, 2025 - Four sets of amendments tabled in committee
  • June 23, 2026 - ECON committee votes 43-14-1 to adopt position on digital euro; committee decides to open interinstitutional negotiations
  • July 2026 (expected) - Negotiating mandates announced at start of plenary session; trilogues with Council to begin

Summary

Who: The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON), led by rapporteur Fernando Navarrete Rojas (EPP, Spain), adopted its negotiating position on the digital euro. The European Central Bank would issue the currency; payment service providers including banks, e-money firms, post offices, and regulated crypto-asset providers would distribute it.

What: A package of three legislative files covering the digital euro (adopted 43-14-1), provision of digital euro services by PSPs in non-euro EU states (43-9-6), and legal tender protection for euro banknotes and coins (46-4-8). The position sets out free basic use, individual holding caps reviewed every two years, privacy-by-design using zero-knowledge proofs, a 24-month minimum roll-out period after authorisation, and a ban on business holdings beyond 24 hours of accumulated incoming payments.

When: The committee vote took place on June 23, 2026. The original Commission proposal dates to June 28, 2023. Trilogue negotiations with the Council are expected to begin after the July 2026 plenary session.

Where: The vote was held in the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. The digital euro, once issued, would be accessible across the EU, with extended access for non-euro member states and limited access for visitors and third-country residents.

Why: The proposal responds to the declining use of physical cash in digital transactions, the growing reliance on non-EU payment providers such as Visa and Mastercard, and the potential future competition from third-country central bank digital currencies and private stablecoins. The stated objectives are to keep central bank money available to the public in digital form, maintain financial stability, protect privacy, and reduce dependence on foreign-controlled payment infrastructure.