EU finance ministers signal urgency on digital euro amid Trump steps

After a meeting of European Union finance ministers, Euro group President Paschal Donohoe said there’s been progress on legislation for the digital euro central bank digital currency (CBDC). The legislative work was interrupted by the European elections mid-last year, plus the member of parliament coordinating the legal drafting, Stefan Berger, stepped aside as he has reservations about the digital currency.

Mr Donohoe said that the European Council (of governments), the Commission and Parliament have been working on a new draft and have made “good progress, but there are some areas that require further work.” The Trump administration’s desire to expand the global usage of stablecoins has been used to stir backing for digital euro legislation, despite safeguards in the EU’s MiCA crypto regulations. MiCAR restricts the scale of foreign currency stablecoin usage and gives authorities intervention powers if monetary sovereignty is threatened. However, from the early days a key digital euro motivation of the European Central Bank (ECB) has been to reduce retail payment dependence on foreign companies such as Visa and Mastercard. President Trump’s April tariff announcements underlined that risk.

The Trump administration’s desire to expand the global usage of stablecoins has been used to stir backing for digital euro legislation, despite safeguards in the EU’s MiCA crypto regulations. MiCAR restricts the scale of foreign currency stablecoin usage and gives authorities intervention powers if monetary sovereignty is threatened. However, from the early days a key digital euromotivation of the European Central Bank (ECB) has been to reduce retail payment dependence on foreign companies such as Visa and Mastercard. President Trump’s April tariff announcements underlined that risk.   (Read More)