The European Parliament threw its weight behind the European Central Bank’s (ECB) digital euro project in a vote to position money and payments as a strategic asset in an era of heightened geopolitical tensions.
Lawmakers adopted the annual ECB report by 443 votes in favour, 71 against and 117 abstentions, which support amendments that call the digital euro “necessary” to strengthen the EU’s monetary sovereignty, reduce fragmentation in retail payments and boost the integrity of the single market.
The text emphasizes how public money in digital form can prevent Europe’s dependence on non-EU payment providers and private instruments.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) also pointed out that the ECB should remain independent and free from political pressure, arguing that safeguarding the central bank’s sovereignty is key to maintaining price stability and market confidence.
During the plenary debate, Johan van Overt Veldt, MEP and former Belgian finance minister, flagged that “the independence of the ECB is not a technical detail.”
He warned that history showed political interference with central banks “always leads to inflation, financial instability and even nasty political turmoil.” ”
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Affirming independence is “even more important in the current global context,” he argued, likening fiscal and financial stability to utilities like water and electricity whose importance is only realized when they fail.
The digital euro as a public good and geopolitical hedge
The approved resolution states that, even when the ECB develops a digital euro, cash should retain an important role in the euro area economy, and that both physical and digital euros will be legal tender.
Parliament’s backing comes amid a broader push by central bankers and economists to develop the digital euro as a public good and geopolitical hedge.
Last month, ECB Executive Board member Perio Cipollone called the project “public money in digital form” and tied it directly to concerns about “every imaginable instrument arsenal”.
He argued that Europe needed a retail payment system “fully under our control” and built on European infrastructure rather than foreign schemes.
Earlier in January, 70 economists and policy experts urged MEPs to “let the public interest prevail” over the digital euro, warning that without a strong public option, private stablecoins and foreign payments companies could gain even more influence over Europe’s digital payments, deepening dependence in times of stress.
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