Integrating the Digital Euro into Europe’s existing payment landscape

The Commission’s proposed regulation establishing a digital euro would introduce a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) alongside well-functioning private solutions that already deliver secure and innovative person-to-person (P2P), point-of-sale (PoS), and e-commerce payments.

In the context of the broader simplification and competitiveness agenda, the digital euro should not require industry to divert investment away from existing, successfully deployed payment solutions. Instead, it should complement these solutions and facilitate interoperability with private-sector services.

Since 2023, DIGITALEUROPE has called on co-legislators to define a proportionate digital euro framework, which should articulate a compelling customer value proposition, be based on a cost-benefit analysis and
on an evidence-based study of potential risks to financial stability, whilst acknowledging the technical and operational complexities of the roll-out of this new form of public money.

As co-legislators progress with legislative negotiations and the European Central Bank (ECB) advances the technical workstream for the issuance of the digital euro, DIGITALEUROPE calls on the EU institutions to take into account the following recommendations:

• Prioritise the issuance of an offline digital euro whilst supporting payment service providers (PSPs) in achieving scale at the EU level.
• Ensure that holding limits address unintended consequences on financial stability.
• Allow all stakeholders involved in the distribution of the digital euro to be adequately compensated.
• Guarantee consistency with existing EU legislation and the business practices that derive from it.