Fabio Panetta: The digital euro and the evolution of the financial system

Introductory statement by Mr Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, Brussels, 15 June 2022. 

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

I am pleased to join you here today to discuss the progress we have made in our digital euro project.

A digital euro would enable Europeans to use public money for digital payments throughout the euro area – just like they can use cash for physical payments.

Bringing central bank money into the digital era is a logical step as payments become increasingly digitalised. And this is critical for two main reasons.

First, we need to preserve the role of public money as the anchor of the payments system in order to ensure the smooth coexistence, the convertibility and the complementarity of the various forms that money takes. A strong anchor is needed to protect the singleness of money, monetary sovereignty and the integrity of the financial system.

Second, a digital euro would contribute to our strategic autonomy and economic efficiency by offering a European means of payment that could be used for any digital payment, would meet Europe's societal objectives and would be based on a European infrastructure.