Europe needs both cash and the digital euro - don’t block it

The EPP Group deplores the attempt by far-right MEPs to block negotiations between Parliament and EU Member States on citizens’ freedom to choose how they pay. Leading EPP lawmakers Fernando Navarrete Rojas MEP and Markus Ferber MEP call on fellow MEPs to support the mandate, which protects cash while enabling the digital euro.

"The digital euro will complement cash, not replace it. We strengthen access to and acceptance of cash while making central bank money available in digital form. That is what this package is about: protecting cash and enabling a digital euro. It is not about watching, judging, or restricting how citizens pay," said Navarrete Rojas MEP, the Parliament’s negotiator on the single currency package.

"There is a narrative going around describing a future where your digital payments are monitored and controlled. The digital euro expands freedom, choice, resilience and privacy. More privacy than with current digital means of payment; more resilience to face internet or power disruptions; more freedom to choose how to pay without anybody knowing what we do with our money, and free of geopolitical dependencies. This is what the single currency package brings to European consumers and merchants. This is not a tool for controlling citizens. It's a European guarantee, written into law, that your right to pay freely and privately is protected, not threatened," stated Navarrete.

"Strengthening the resilience of payments in Europe has become a geopolitical necessity. Europe needs the digital euro. In a world marked by geopolitical tensions, we can no longer accept that digital payments are largely dependent on the goodwill of a few foreign providers. This package changes that. It protects cash as a universal means of payment and adds a European digital option. The euro must work in your pocket and on your phone. This package delivers both," added Ferber MEP, EPP Group spokesman in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

Ferber confirms: "The digital euro is not a surveillance instrument. The ECB will not be able to see what users pay for. In fact, the central bank will have access to less information than banks and payment service providers have today. What is nobody else's business in your wallet must remain nobody else's business in the digital world."

The digital euro will be issued by European central banks and distributed by commercial banks. At the same time, the new rules strengthen the availability and acceptance of cash for citizens in their daily lives. Member States must ensure that access to cash is sufficient and effective throughout their territory, including in rural and less populated areas. Merchants must accept euro banknotes and coins in face-to-face payments.