The Member of Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) and crypto critic, Fabio Panetta said that everybody will be able to use digital euro whenever and wherever they want throughout Europe.
In the speech at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, Panetta emphasized that the European Union’s legislative proposal of digital euro will enable payments to be accessible and acceptable into the euro area in an increasingly digital world.
European Commission published the Digital Euro proposal on June 28 for Euro’s mainstream acceptance and easy accessibility. Panetta said that the proposal put Europe at the forefront of advanced economies in CBDC development.
“They create a new paradigm for preserving monetary sovereignty while guaranteeing people’s freedoms in the digital age,” the board executive member said, adding “the proposed measures would ensure that Europeans are free to choose how they make their everyday payments.”
“Cash is here to stay,” Panetta said, adding, “But alongside cash, there would be a new form of central bank money – the digital euro.”
Panetta says that publishing proposal was the first step. Now, European legislators are to shape the proposal in order to form the final version of digital euro. With this, the end version of digital euro will be available for everyone for digital payments.
The ECB’s investigation has reached the final stage in preparing ground for the Governance Council for the next phase of the project.
“A digital euro will make our money fit for the digital age. [ ]… By providing an electronic form of cash, it will preserve people’s freedom to choose between private and public forms of our single currency for their everyday payments.”
Furthermore, the ECB official believes that issuance of digital euro represents an opportunity and not a risk for the financial ecosystem. It will be provided by banks and other payment service providers unlike stablecoins issued by tech firms.
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