In a speech in Riga, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone warned that Europe’s heavy reliance on non-European payment systems poses growing economic and strategic risks, and argued that a digital euro is essential to strengthen the continent’s financial sovereignty.
He highlighted that most card payments in the euro area are controlled by foreign providers, leaving Europe exposed to external decisions, rising fees, and limited control over financial infrastructure. As digital payments replace cash, these dependencies are becoming even more pronounced.
The proposed digital euro would act as a European-controlled digital form of cash, usable both online and offline, ensuring secure, private, and uninterrupted payments across the eurozone. It is designed to reduce reliance on foreign systems, lower transaction costs, and support competition and innovation among European payment providers.
Cipollone also outlined a broader ECB strategy to modernize payments, including developing tokenized central bank money to support future financial technologies and avoid new dependencies in wholesale and cross-border transactions.
He concluded that in an increasingly fragmented world, maintaining control over payment infrastructure is crucial for Europe’s economic resilience and sovereignty, making the digital euro a timely and necessary step.
(ecb.europa.eu)
