European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Piero Cipollone has framed the proposed digital euro as a critical tool for preserving Europe's financial sovereignty in an increasingly fragmented and tense global landscape. In an interview with Spanish newspaper El País, Cipollone warned of the "weaponisation of every conceivable tool" and argued that rising geopolitical tensions make a European-controlled retail payment system essential.
Cipollone described the digital euro as "public money in digital form," intended to complement cash as its use declines. He cited data showing cash accounted for only 24% of day-to-day transaction value in 2024, a sharp drop from 40% in 2019. The ECB official stated the central bank has a responsibility to adapt how it provides money as a public good, emphasizing the need for a system "fully under our control," built on European technology to avoid "excessive dependencies" on foreign providers.
A significant point of contention is the digital euro's legal tender status. Cipollone stated that any merchant currently accepting digital payments "will have to accept" the digital euro, implying a de facto mandatory acceptance regime. This has raised concerns among critics about a state-imposed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) framework potentially crowding out private sector innovation.
Cipollone rejected calls to delay the project in favor of waiting for a private sector-led pan-European payment solution, noting the ECB has "been calling on the private sector to come up with a pan-European solution for many years now." He argued that introducing a digital euro with a single, open standard would actually incentivize banks and fintechs to finally deliver a unified retail payments layer. He also pushed back on suggestions for an offline-only digital euro, questioning how it could function for the growing e-commerce sector, which he identified as a core problem the project aims to solve.
His comments followed an open letter on January 11 from approximately 70 economists and policymakers urging EU lawmakers to prioritize the public interest and warning that further delays could deepen Europe's reliance on dominant private and non-European payment providers.
