Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

▸12 unchanged paragraphs

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of the digital euro

(COM(2023)0369 – C90219/2023 – 2023/0212(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2023)0369),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 133 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C90219/2023),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank of 31 October 2023,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,

– having regard to Rule 60 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs,

Changed– having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (A90000/2024),(A10-0185/2026),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 1

RemovedRecital 1: (1) The Commission emphasised in the Digital Finance and Retail Payment Strategies of September 2020 that a digital euro, as a retail central bank digital currency, would act as a catalyst for innovation in payments, finance and commerce in the context of ongoing efforts to reduce the fragmentation of the Union retail payments market. Since then, the policy debate, digital payment market landscape and technical work have evolved significantly. A digital euro should be assessed against clearly defined problems and compared with the best available market alternatives, in line with necessity, proportionality and opportunity-cost tests.

AddedAMENDMENTS BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT*

RemovedRecital 2: (2) On 2 October 2020, the European Central Bank published its “Report on a digital euro”. The report formed the basis for seeking views on the benefits and challenges of issuing a digital euro and on its possible design, including both online and offline digital forms. Since then the European Central Bank has moved into a preparation phase, starting on 1 November 2023, focused on the elaboration of the rulebook, provider selection, testing and experimentation. Subsequent analyses and international experience indicate that major advanced economies have not committed to retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) but rather to wholesale central bank digital currency projects.

Addedto the Commission proposal

RemovedRecital 3: deleted

Added---------------------------------------------------------

RemovedRecital 3 a (new): (3a) To address the increasing challenges to the Union economy and the Union´s strategic sovereignty, the Union payments infrastructure should aim to reduce dependence on non-European providers and ensure that citizens and businesses have secure, efficient and accessible options for making their daily payments. In its Communication on a Retail Payments Strategy for the EU of 24 September 2020, the Commission emphasised the importance of promoting competitive pan-European payment solutions of European origin, in order to help consolidate The Union’s economic and financial sovereignty and reduce market fragmentation.

Added2023/0212 (COD)

RemovedRecital 3 b (new): (3b) The introduction of an offline digital euro would offer a twofold solution: it would reduce overreliance on non-European providers by becoming a pan-European means of payment and would bring the single currency into the digital era by giving Union citizens the option of paying with central bank money in their daily digital transactions. As envisaged in this Regulation, the absence of a central infrastructure for settling offline digital euro transactions makes it inherently privacy-friendly, since such payments need not be routed through or recorded on a central infrastructure. Moreover, by replicating cash-like features, such as the bearer style or the absence of digital euro accounts, the offline digital euro would significantly reduce financial stability risks. This Regulation should therefore enable the strengthening of interoperability and competitive neutrality rather than displace already efficient market solutions.

AddedProposal for a

RemovedRecital 3 c (new): (3c) Existing European retail private payment initiatives in a significant number of Member States are widely adopted in their national markets and satisfy a large part of the current needs for the Union economy and the Union´s strategic sovereignty, without posing financial stability risks. It is of the utmost importance that such initiatives are enhanced to become pan-European in scope .

AddedREGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

RemovedRecital 4: (4) To address the challenges that the Union payments market is currently facing, the European digital payment retail solutions should address a variety of use cases of retail payments based on consumers’ demands, needs and habits and preferences. Those use cases may include a variety such as person to person, person to business, person to government, business to person, business to business, business to government, government to person, government to business or government to government payments.

Addedon the establishment of the digital euro

RemovedRecital 5: (5) In a context where cash alone cannot answer the needs of a digitalised economy, it is essential to support financial inclusion by ensuring universal, affordable and easy access to pan-European sovereign retail payment solutions to individuals in the euro area, as well as its wide acceptance in payments. Financial exclusion in the digitalised economy may increase as vulnerable groups of the society may not have access to digital payment solutions in some rural or remote areas without a (stable) communication network. According to the World Bank and the Bank for International Settlements, “efficient, accessible and safe retail payment systems and services are critical for greater financial inclusion”.24 That finding was further substantiated by the study on new Digital Payment Methods commissioned by the European Central Bank, which concluded that for the unbanked/underbanked/offline population, the most important features of a new payment method are easiness of use, not requiring technological skills, and to be secure and free of charge.25 Free access, easiness of use and wide accessibility and acceptance of offline digital euro solutions should be offered to grant financial inclusion.

AddedTHE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

RemovedRecital 6: (6) The digital euro should complement euro banknotes and coins and should not replace the physical forms of the single currency. As legal tender instruments, both cash and digital euro are equally important. Regulation (EU).../...+, Directive (EU) .../...++, Regulation (EU) .../...+++ and, with regard to instant transfers in euros, Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a and Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council2a and Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council3a and Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council4a , will strengthen both physical central bank money and retail digital payment solutions. Regulation (EU) .../...++++ would harmonise legal tender for cash and ensure that cash is widely distributed and effectively used. / + OJ: Please insert in the text the number of the Regulation contained in document PE-CONS ../.. (2023/0208(COD)) and insert the number, date, title and OJ reference of that Regulation in the footnote. / ++ OJ: Please insert in the text the number of the Regulation contained in document PE-CONS ../.. (2023/0209(COD)) and insert the number, date, title and OJ reference of that Regulation in the footnote. / +++ OJ: Please insert in the text the number of the Regulation contained in document PE-CONS ../.. (2023/0210(COD)) and insert the number, date, title and OJ reference of that Regulation in the footnote. / 1a Regulation (EU) No 260/…

AddedHaving regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 133 thereof,

RemovedRecital 7: (7) Future developments in digital payments and geopolitical challenges may affect the role of the euro in retail payment markets both in the Union and internationally. Many central banks around the world have explored the issuance of CBDCs. However, most of the jurisdictions have focused their initial efforts and resources in the wholesale CBDC projects rather than in retail CBDC projects.

AddedHaving regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

RemovedRecital 7 a (new): (7a) Without prejudice to the current framework for a retail digital euro, the Union should prioritise the development and cross-border interoperability of wholesale CBDC arrangements, including tokenised central-bank money for the settlement of securities and large-value payments. Wholesale CBDC can enhance the Union’s financial system by enabling safer and faster delivery-versus-payment (DvP) and payment-versus-payment (PvP), improving intraday liquidity efficiency, including auto-collateralisation, extending operating hours, and strengthening operational resilience. By supporting the settlement of tokenised assets under clear legal finality and common standards, and by facilitating cross-border settlement links with partner central banks, wholesale CBDC can foster deeper and more competitive Union capital markets, reduce reliance on non-European infrastructures, and contribute to the Union’s open strategic autonomy, while remaining technology-neutral and fully consistent with monetary policy implementation and financial stability.

AddedAfter transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

RemovedRecital 8: (8) To address the Union’s structural over-reliance on non-European payment providers and to safeguard the euro’s monetary sovereignty and open strategic autonomy in the digital age, it is therefore necessary for this Regulation to lay down a legal framework for establishing the offline digital euro, its legal tender status, distribution, use, essential technical features and the framework for the establishment of an online digital euro.

AddedHaving regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank,

RemovedRecital 8 a (new): (8a) It is considered necessary that the establishment of the digital euro initially starts with the offline digital euro, since its use would strengthen the resilience of the payment system in extraordinary situations, reduce overdependence on payment solutions and technologies under the ultimate control of third countries or entities from third countries and preserve citizens’ privacy concerns.

AddedHaving regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,

RemovedRecital 8 b (new): (8b) In order to ensure necessity, proportionality and market competitiveness, the establishment of the online digital euro should be contingent on the absence of a pan-European sovereign retail payment solution covering person-to-person, point-of-interaction and e-commerce use cases in the euro-area. The Commission should be entrusted with the task of assessing if a pan-European sovereign retail payment solution exists in the euro area and providing such an assessment in a report to the European Parliament and the Council within six months of the European Central Bank having notified the completion of the preparatory work to issue the offline digital euro. If the Commission assesses that no pan-European sovereign retail payment solution is available to citizens at that point in time, it should prepare and adopt, within six months of submitting report, a delegated act with the purpose of supplementing this Regulation to confirm the lack of such a solution, thus meeting the condition for the establishment of the online digital euro. This conditionality aims to avoid crowding out scalable private solutions, focuses public intervention on genuine market failures, and supports the Union’s open strategic autonomy by prioritising public-governed payment solutions only where effective private alternatives do not exist. This procedure does not interfere with preparatory work to be conducted by the European Central Bank on the technical and organisational tasks for the issue of the di…

AddedActing in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

RemovedRecital 8 c (new): (8c) A roll-out phase should be established for both the offline digital euro and the online digital euro, from the moment when the European Central Bank decides on its issuance, in order to enable the different actors involved to adapt to the obligations entailed by the issuance of the digital euro, similar to what has been established for other legislative initiatives in the field of payments and to ensure a secure, resilient and gradual adaptation by the Eurosystem and digital euro users.

AddedWhereas:

RemovedRecital 8 d (new): (8d) The European Central Bank should be competent to issue and to authorise the issuance of the digital euro by national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, exercising its powers under the Treaties.

Added(1) The Commission emphasised in the Digital Finance and Retail Payment Strategies of September 2020 and updated in November 2023 that a digital euro, as a retail central bank digital currency, available for both consumers and businesses, would act as a catalyst for innovation in payments, finance and commerce in the context of ongoing efforts to reduce the fragmentation of the Union retail payments market. The Eurosummits of March 2021 and October 2025 called for a stronger and more innovative digital finance sector and more efficient and resilient payment systems and reiterated that in an increasingly digital world, the digital euro offers a strategic opportunity for supporting a resilient European payment system, contributing to Europe’s strategic autonomy and economic security, and strengthening the international role of the euro. ▌In that context, both the European Parliament and ECOFIN Council welcomed in February and March 2022 the European Central Bank’s decision to launch a two-year investigation phase of a digital euro project, starting from October 2021.

RemovedRecital 9: (9) Like euro banknotes and coins, the digital euro should be a direct liability of the European Central Bank or of the national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro towards digital euro users. The digital euro should be issued for an amount equal to the face value of the corresponding liability on the consolidated balance sheet of the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, in particular by converting payment service providers’ central bank reserves into digital euro, to satisfy demand from digital euro users. To hold and use digital euros, digital euro users should only need to establish a contractual relationship with payment service providers distributing the digital euro to open digital euro payment accounts or obtain an offline digital euro device. No other contractual relationship would be established between the digital euro user and the European Central Bank or the national central banks. Since payment service providers are not a party to the direct liability held by digital euro users towards the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, and are acting on behalf of digital euro users, the insolvency of payment service providers would not affect digital euro users.

Added(2) On 2 October 2020, the European Central Bank published its “Report on a digital euro”. The report formed the basis for seeking views on the benefits and challenges of issuing a digital euro and on its possible design, including both online and offline digital euro payment functionalities. Subsequently, on 30 October 2025, the European Central Bank published a closing progress report on the two-year preparation phase to lay the groundwork for the digital euro, focussing on the development of a draft digital euro rulebook, provider selection, testing and experimentation.

RemovedRecital 10: (10) The digital euro should be governed by the provisions of this Regulation. They may be supplemented by the delegated acts that the Commission is empowered to adopt pursuant to Articles 3, 11, 16, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38. In addition, within the framework of this Regulation and its delegated acts, the European Central Bank may adopt detailed measures, rules and standards pursuant to its own competences. Where such measures, rules and standards have an impact on the protection of individual’s rights and freedoms with regard to the processing of personal data, the European Central Bank should consult the European Data Protection Supervisor. To ensure legal certainty, the Regulation also clarifies that the digital euro is subject to Directive (EU) 2024/1640 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a and to Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 of the European Parliament and of the Council2a, without prejudice to the adjusted anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing framework laid down in this Regulation for offline digital euro payment transactions. Digital euro payment transactions and the related payment services are also subject to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council3a, which has provided that ‘funds’ include central bank money issued for retail use (i.e. banknotes, coins and central bank digital currencies), and to Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council4a. / 1a Directive (EU) 2024/1640 of the European…

Added(3) Central bank money in the form of banknotes and coins cannot be used for online payments. Today, online payments rely entirely on commercial bank money. The acceptability and fungibility of commercial bank money rely on its convertibility on a one-to-one basis to central bank money with legal tender, which serves as a monetary anchor. That monetary anchor is at the core of the functioning of monetary and financial systems. It underpins users’ confidence in commercial bank money and in the euro as a currency and is therefore essential to safeguard the stability of the monetary system in a digitalised economy and society. As central bank money in physical form alone cannot address the needs of a rapidly digitalising economy, this could gradually remove the monetary anchor for commercial bank money. Additionally, to address the increasing challenges to the Union economy and the Union´s strategic sovereignty, the Union payments infrastructure should aim to reduce dependence on non-European providers and ensure that citizens and businesses have sovereign, secure, efficient and accessible options for their daily payments. The introduction of the digital euro would offer a twofold solution: it would reduce overreliance on non-European providers by becoming a pan-European means of payment and it would bring the single currency into the digital era by giving Union citizens the freedom to opt to pay with central bank money in their daily transactions. ▌

RemovedRecital 12: (12) The relevant provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, Directive (EU) 2024/1640 and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a should govern the supervision by competent authorities and the sanctions regime and supervisory arrangements between the competent authorities of the home Member States and of the host Member States, concerning the activities of Payment Services Providers established in Member States whose currency is not the euro. To ensure an efficient supervision of payment services providers distributing the digital euro, the competent authorities responsible under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 for supervising the provision of payment services should also cooperate with the European Central Bank for the purposes of supervising the application of payment-related obligations laid down in this Regulation. Any personal data processing under this Regulation must comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council2a insofar as they fall within their respective scope of application. Therefore, the supervisory authorities under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 are responsible for the supervision of processing of personal data carried out in the context of this Regulation. / 1a Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free m…

Added(4) To address the need of a rapidly digitalising economy, the digital euro should support a variety of use cases of retail payments. Those use case include person to person, person to business, person to government, business to person, business to business, business to government, government to person, government to business, and government to government payments. In addition, the digital euro should also be able to fulfil future payments needs, and in particular machine to machine payment in the context of Industry 4.0 and payments in the decentralised internet (web3). The retail solution for the digital euro should not cater for payments between financial intermediaries, payment service providers and other market participants (that is to say wholesale payments), for which settlement systems in central bank money exist and where the use of different technologies is being further investigated by the Eurosystem.

RemovedRecital 13: (13) Member States, their relevant authorities and payment service providers should deploy information and educational measures to ensure the necessary level of awareness and knowledge about the availability, features and possibilities of access to the offline and online forms of the digital euro once they are issued.

Added(5) In a context of the increasing digitalisation of the economy, it is essential to support financial inclusion by ensuring an accessible digital euro, specifically catering for vulnerable groups of the society. ▌According to the World Bank and the Bank for International Settlements, “efficient, accessible and safe retail payment systems and services are critical for greater financial inclusion”. That finding was further substantiated by the study on new Digital Payment Methods commissioned by the European Central Bank, which concluded that for the unbanked/underbanked/offline population, the most important features of a new payment method are easiness of use, not requiring technological skills, and to be secure and free of charge. A digital euro would ▌support financial inclusion as it would be designed along these objectives, thus catering for free access, easiness of use and wide accessibility and acceptance.

RemovedRecital 15: (15) Legal tender status is a defining characteristic of central bank money. In the euro area, until now euro banknotes and coins are the only means of payment that have the status of legal tender, pursuant to Article 128(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’) and Articles 10 and 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/9827. / (deleted)

Added(6) The digital euro should complement euro banknotes and coins and should not replace the physical forms of the single currency. As legal tender instruments, both cash and digital euro are equally important and people should have the freedom to choose how to pay. Regulation (EU)).../...*, Directive (EU) .../...**, Regulation (EU) .../…*** and, with regard to instant transfers in euros, Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directive 98/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council, aim to strengthen both physical central bank money and retail digital payment solutions. Regulation (EU) .../…**** ▌would harmonise legal tender for cash and ensure that cash is widely distributed and effectively used, through, inter alia, the possibility of imposing penalties for infringements of that Regulation.

RemovedRecital 16: (16) The digital euro, as a digital currency with the status of legal tender denominated in euro issued by the European Central Bank and national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, as part of the Eurosystem, should be widely accessible, usable and accepted as a means of payment. Granting legal tender status to the digital euro should support its usability in payments across the euro area and thus also support the efforts to ensure the continued availability and accessibility of central bank money as cash alone cannot address the needs of a rapidly digitalising economy. In addition, the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro as one of the main conditions of the legal tender status ensures that people and businesses benefit from a wide acceptance and have a real choice to pay with central bank money in a digital way and in a uniform manner throughout the euro area.

Added(7) Future developments in digital payments may affect the role of the euro in retail payment markets both in the European Union and internationally.▌For instance, so-called third country stablecoins not denominated in euro and their derivatives, could, if widely used for payments, displace euro denominated payments in the Union’s economy by satisfying demand for programmable payments (which are referred as conditional payments in the context of this Regulation), including in e-commerce, capital markets or industry 4.0. A digital euro would therefore be important to maintain the role of the euro in the digital age.