ECB official sees digital euro as key to protecting EU ‘sovereignty’

Piero Cipollone said the bloc is on track to test real transactions in 2027 and roll out a digital euro as early as 2029, pending legislation this year.

European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the digital euro that is set for a pilot next year has the potential to give the bloc “sovereignty” over a payments infrastructure that currently requires dependency on external, non-European third parties.

Cipollone said in an interview with Italy’s Milano Finance published by the central bank on Saturday that because the bloc is critically dependent on third parties, it’s not easy to ensure this smooth functioning. He did not cite specific third parties.

“In recent years Europe has learned that, for some essential services, we cannot rely only on third parties. We saw this with energy and we’re seeing it today with defense. And the same is true for payments,” he said.

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