Yesterday, the European Central Bank (ECB) Director Piero Cipollone made a speech about the digital euro to the European Parliament’s ECON Committee, with the topic of monetary sovereignty raised again.
The ECB has argued that a key rationale behind the digital euro is to ensure monetary sovereignty, given the heavy dependence for retail payments on the US card providers Visa and Mastercard. The digital euro rapporteur, MEP Fernando Navarrete who is coordinating the legislative process, asked whether the ECB would take into account whether the private sector had solved the sovereignty issue when making a final decision on whether to launch the central bank digital currency. This was a reference to the European Payments Initiative, which has launched the Wero wallet that will cover five countries by next year, and is also collaborating with the European Payments Alliance, which covers several additional EU markets.
In response, Mr Cipollone responded that in addition to sovereignty, the digital euro ensures that citizens can still access central bank money. Additionally, he said that a digital euro will increase the probability of constructing a pan European scheme given that it establishes a European standard, likening it to a public railroad on which private trains can move.
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Image Copyright: European Parliament