The European Parliament’s economic committee voted to advance the digital euro, which has become one of the EU’s main responses to geopolitical uncertainty.
“This is a historic day for Europe,” said centre-left Socialists & Democrats MEP Aurore Lalucq who is the committee chair, following the vote on Tuesday (23 June).
“Strengthening the resilience of payments in Europe has become a geopolitical necessity,” echoed Markus Ferber, economy spokesperson for the conservative European People’s Party group.
“We can no longer accept that digital payments are largely dependent on the goodwill of a few foreign providers. This package changes that,” he also said.
The file will now go to a full parliamentary vote, after which negotiations with member states can begin.
