Digital Euro’s Future Unclear as Key Vote Approaches

A vote on the digital euro could come within the first half of 2026.

However, it’s not clear whether the project will win the backing of a majority of the European Parliament, the Financial Times (FT) reported Monday (Jan. 5), with one official telling the news outlet that the vote “could really go down to the wire.”

To convince the plan’s skeptics, the European Central Bank (ECB) has launched a public relations campaign in hopes of issuing its first central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2029 after a pilot next year, the FT said.

According to the report, left-leaning members of the European parliament support the plan but are more than 40 votes short of clinching an absolute majority. The far right opposes it and views are divided within other parties, the FT added.

“Building a majority will prove difficult,” German EPP MEP Markus Ferber, who is skeptical about the ECB’s plans, told the FT, adding that “positions differ widely.”

The report notes that Fernando Navarrete, a Spanish minister appointed by parliament to assess the digital euro, has argued for a scaled-down version of the coin used solely for offline use for person-to-person payments.

Ferber supported that view, arguing that offline payments are the only ones where existing private sector solutions had “genuine gaps” — like digital payments availability in situations where there is no electricity or internet access.

“A digital euro only makes sense if it offers clear and comprehensible added value for citizens and businesses,” said Ferber, adding that “it must not become a political prestige project.”

He cautioned that “it is by no means a given that there is clear demand” for an ECB-backed plan for online payments.

The digital euro has received some pushback from European banks that argue a CBDC could subvert private sector payment systems.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve has studied the idea of a CBDC but has made no commitments to develop or test a retail version of the coin, PYMNTS wrote last year.

“Fed Chair Jerome Powell has consistently said that such a move would need clear support from the executive branch as well as authorization from Congress,” the report said. “That position may be politically prudent, but it also reflects a gridlock… Still, the political momentum favors stablecoins, not central banks. A U.S. CBDC would represent a public alternative to the privately-issued stablecoin solutions promoted by the crypto industry.”