European Parliament votes 416 to 169 to open digital euro negotiations
The digital euro cleared a key hurdle: the European Parliament voted 416-169 to open negotiations with EU governments on the ECB-backed digital currency, pitched as a way to cut reliance on US payment networks. A deal is targeted by end of 2026, launch hoped for 2029. Per France2
Europe's answer to its dependence on American payment infrastructure took a concrete step forward. The European Parliament voted in Strasbourg on Wednesday to open negotiations with EU member states on the digital euro, with 416 votes in favor, 169 against and 22 abstentions, per France24 and Euronews. The vote formalizes the Parliament's position and allows talks with EU capitals on a legal framework to begin, with negotiators targeting a deal by the end of 2026. If that timeline holds, the European Central Bank hopes to make the digital euro available to citizens in 2029. The strategic driver is explicit: reducing Europe's reliance on non-EU payment providers. The overwhelming majority of card payments in Europe today run over US networks, and EU policymakers have grown increasingly uncomfortable with that dependence as transatlantic relations have cooled. A digital euro would give Europeans a public, ECB-backed means of electronic payment that works across the eurozone without a US intermediary. Plenty remains unsettled, including holding limits designed to prevent deposit flight from commercial banks, privacy safeguards, and how the system would work offline. Those details now move to the negotiations between Parliament and member states. But the direction is clear: a state-backed European payments rival that was a discussion paper a few years ago is now on a legislative track with a launch date in sight. Per France24 and Euronews.