## Europe Can No Longer Wait: The Digital Euro Is Ready, But the European Monetary System Is Still in Balance

The news came from the European Central Bank summit: President Christine Lagarde announced that all technical foundations for a digital euro have been completed. It sounds like a victory, and partly it is. But behind this announcement lies a bigger question: as Europe accelerates toward modernizing its monetary system, will it be able to keep pace with other global giants in the race for digital currencies?

## What does "technical preparation completed" mean?

The ECB has been working for years on a complex challenge: building an infrastructure that allows Europeans to transact in digital euro as they do with cash, but with the security and traceability of a digital transaction. This is no small feat. Internal teams have designed the system architecture, tested security protocols, simulated millions of operations to verify it works smoothly with existing financial systems.

The result? The technical machinery is ready to go.

Paradoxically, the remaining obstacle is not technological but bureaucratic. It requires legislative approval from the European Union. The Parliament and the European Council must define the rules: how much money each citizen can hold in digital euro, how to protect privacy, how to involve commercial banks in distribution, how to prevent the system from turning into a mass run on traditional bank accounts.

In short, the engine is built. But the legal road still needs to be paved.

## Why Europe cannot afford to delay further

The push toward the digital euro is not born from simple innovation for its own sake. The ECB is driven by three concrete concerns:

**First**, sovereignty. Europeans depend on non-European payment platforms—Visa, Mastercard, PayPal—controlled by American companies. A public digital euro would reduce this dependence, keeping control of the European monetary system in the hands of the EU.

**Second**, inclusion. Despite digital advances, millions of Europeans remain excluded from the banking system or prefer cash for privacy and simplicity reasons. An accessible digital euro could bridge this gap.

**Third**, the quiet competition with other digital currencies. China has already advanced experiments with the digital yuan. The US is exploring the digital dollar. If Europe continues to proceed slowly in modernizing its European monetary system, it risks becoming a spectator in a global transformation.

## What are the real obstacles?

Legislative timing is one thing, but the real obstacles are three:

**Privacy and surveillance**: How to balance transaction traceability (necessary to combat money laundering) with the right to privacy? The ECB talks about "privacy by design"—personal data would not be visible for small transactions—but details remain to be defined.

**Hidden banking crisis**: If too many Europeans transferred their money from traditional bank accounts directly to the central bank via digital euro, bank loans could contract sharply. Banks would be forced to resort to higher interest rates to attract deposits. Legislation will need to include holding limits—probably between 3,000 and 10,000 euros per person—to prevent this scenario.

**Practical usability**: It must work offline, be as intuitive as cash for daily transactions, and work for both seniors and children. It’s not an impossible technical challenge, but it is complex.

## The realistic timeline

Lagarde’s announcement coincides with other ECB decisions on monetary policy—interest rates held steady, inflation expected to return by 2028. This is no coincidence. The ECB is signaling that the digital project is not a distraction from immediate economic responsibilities but a structural investment for the decades ahead.

If the European Parliament approves legislation by 2025-2026, the launch could occur between 2027 and 2028. If political debates drag on, it could slip beyond 2030.

## What happens now?

Attention shifts entirely to the legislative table. The political debate will delve into practical issues: what exactly will be the role of commercial banks? How will cross-border transactions be managed? How to ensure the system is resilient to cyberattacks?

What is certain is that Europe, for the first time in its recent monetary history, is trying to build the European monetary system of the future in real time, facing public doubts, banking resistance, and technical complexity all at once.

## Questions still unanswered

**When will it actually be launched?** No official date yet. It depends on legislation.

**Will it replace cash?** No. The ECB has repeatedly emphasized that the digital euro will be complementary, not a substitute. Cash remains legal tender.

**Will I have less privacy?** The ECB promises protection, but legislative details will determine the reality. Privacy will not be absolute, especially for high-value transactions.

**Is the digital euro a cryptocurrency?** No. It is a CBDC, centralized, stable, guaranteed by the ECB with a fixed value 1:1 with physical euro. No volatility, no speculation like Bitcoin.

**How will it affect my savings?** Probably with holding limits; your commercial bank account will continue to be the main place to deposit money. The digital euro will be an accessible option but not an obligatory replacement.

Europe is racing, and the finish line for the modern European monetary system is no longer a distant vision but an imminent destination.