The digital euro has been in development since 2020 and is now set for arguably its most important year yet as it heads to the European Parliament for a decisive vote.
The European Parliament (EP) is set to vote on the passing of legislation on the proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital euro, in the first half of 2026.
To pass legislation, it will require a majority vote amongst the 720 Members of European Parliament (MEP) and would then accelerate the digital euro roadmap for its projected issuance in 2029.
However, a majority vote is not a foregone conclusion. The Financial Times reported today (January 5) that despite MEP’s in favour of passing legislation needing 40 more votes to secure an absolute majority, there remain vocal critics of the digital euro to win over.
Support lies within liberal and centre-left groups who align with the European Central Bank’s (ECB) view that a digital euro offers greater sovereignty freedom for EU member central banks and reduces the reliance on non-EU payment processors and providers, namely Mastercard and Visa.
Throughout 2025, ECB President Christine Lagarde, alongside ECB Executive Board Member Piero Cipollone who has headed the project, have been accelerating their push to gain support for the digital euro.
On September 19, 2025 EU officials met in Copenhagen to discuss strategies on how to accelerate the push for the digital euro launch, while finance ministers such as Lars Klingbeil and Valdis Dombrovskis voiced their support in needing to “move forward with the digital euro”.
The Financial Times also noted the push from the ECB to win over support from MEPs, citing 21 speeches, six interviews and two blog posts from Cipollone in 2025.
While the rallying for support has garnered its intended desire inside Parliament, an official told The Financial Times the vote could “really go down to the wire”.
The opposition
Fernando Navarette, MEP for Spain, was one of the first to raise concerns in early November. He called for a “scaled-down” approach to the project as he called for digital euro usage only for offline payments and “hindering private solutions from reaching pan-European scale”.
More recently, Markus Ferber raised even more doubts regarding the value it may or may not bring to EU citizens, warning it must not become a “political prestige project” and that “it is by no means a given that there is clear demand” for a digital euro nor a EU-backed payment scheme.
He has fallen in favour of the view that the digital euro should be used when it adds value for both citizens and businesses, and the private sector currently believe that is not the case.
In November, 14 European banks which included Deutsche Bank, ING and BNP Paribas, raised their concerns over the negative implications a digital euro-supported government payment scheme could have on its recently launched homegrown service, Wero.
“The current design of the retail digital euro largely addresses the same use cases as private solutions, without offering any clear added value for consumers,” said the banks in a joint statement.
Cipollone has spoken before on the added value proposition a digital euro could bring, such as offline functionality, enhanced security and availability to all EU citizens, as well as cost savings for central banks and faster settlement times.
However, there are those opponents from the right who have questioned the security of a potential government-backed CBDC.
The Patriots for Europe group posted on Instagram their concerns, believing a digital euro could be used for censorship and control. “If you want to buy something that ‘they’ think that you should not, they will not allow you to do so.”
While the ECB has remained adamant no government intervention or surveillance will be used on digital euro transactions, this echoes similar sentiments in the US, when the Anti-CDBC Surveillance Act was passed in July 2025, alongside the CLARITY and GENIUS Acts.
