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\\ \\ Piero Cipollone\\ \\ Member of the ECB's Executive Board

Interview with Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Ricardo Jesus Silva on 29 June 2026

The European Parliament gave the digital euro the green light last week. Do any major hurdles still remain or is the way clear for the project to be implemented?

There are currently three versions of the draft legislation: the European Commission’s, the Council’s – representing the joint position of Member States – and the Parliament’s. The three institutions will already start negotiating this month to reach an agreement on the final text. We hope the text will be finalised by the end of the year, at which point we’ll be in a position to take a decision on the future issuance of the digital euro.

The vote in the European Parliament last week was a very important milestone, particularly because some lawmakers were initially more critical of the Commission’s proposal. However, the text that was ultimately approved aligns closely with the approach taken by the Commission and the Council. We hope the three-way negotiations will proceed without any major difficulties.

Is the ECB satisfied with the stance adopted by the European Parliament?

Generally speaking, yes. The text largely aligns with the approach outlined in the Commission’s initial proposal. There are some aspects we would like to see reinforced, such as the requirement for payment service providers to support the digital euro app that the ECB is developing. This app will ensure universal access, resilience in exceptional circumstances and a level of accessibility that goes above and beyond European accessibility standards. In keeping with the Commission’s proposal, we would like the final text to ensure that all Europeans will always have the option of using this app.

The digital euro has been viewed by some political groups in the European Parliament as a divisive project. Do you think these differences of opinion will be overcome during the negotiations?

I don’t agree with the claim that it’s a divisive project. The digital euro was approved by almost 70% of European Parliament members. That’s anything but divisive. And in the EU Council, all the Member States agreed on a common position.

We are dealing with a highly transformative project and that’s why it’s important that it has strong democratic support. In designing the digital euro, we have aimed to address all the concerns that have been expressed in the legislative process.

We are working to make sure the digital euro works for everyone, with the highest standards of privacy and accessibility. The digital euro will be a digital form of cash, complementing the euro banknotes and coins that bring Europeans together.

If the text is not approved by the end of the year, does the ECB have room to accommodate that delay without having to redesign the project?

We aim to be ready for first issuance in 2029, assuming the legislative process is completed by the end of 2026. We have always said that if this process is delayed, we will have to take another look at the timetable, not the project. In any case, we will only take a decision on issuance of the digital euro once the legislation has been adopted.

The technical side of the project is advancing fast and under our current timeline we will launch the pilot phase in 2027. The pilot will be a key chance to test the digital euro design and gather feedback. It will be the first step, followed by additional steps focused on scaling up and developing functionalities in preparation for the issuance.

What does the digital euro mean for a country like Portugal, which already has MB WAY, its own national payment system? What advantages will it offer Portuguese people in their daily lives?

Above all else, it will bring simplicity. It’s true that Portugal has a very efficient payment system. But people are not only Portuguese citizens; they are also European citizens.

When a US bank issues a debit card, the customer expects to be able to use it anywhere in the United States. That’s not the case in Europe. A national card or payment solution, such as MB WAY, works properly in Portugal, but will not be accepted in Croatia or Finland, for example, unless it is co-badged with non-European international networks. Even when they do work, many of these national solutions have limits. The digital euro will make it possible to use one single means of payment throughout the entire European Union for every kind of payment, without relying on foreign infrastructure.

But there is an even more important dimension. Europeans are not just consumers; they are also citizens. And, as such, they should be concerned about the security of the payment system.