The EU Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee voted 43-14 with one abstention on June 23, 2026 to approve the digital euro legal framework and ordered immediate trilogue negotiations with EU member states, ending three years of deadlock between the European Central Bank and commercial banks over holding limits, per Ledger Insights, CoinDesk, and Euronews.
What the framework covers
The framework covers three areas: the digital euro itself, rules for non-euro EU member states, and new protections for physical cash access, per Heise. It enables an online version and an offline format for device-to-device transfers without internet, providing what CoinDesk described as "cash-like privacy"; the ECB cannot monitor individual purchases on the offline track. Holding limits on digital wallets remain in the text, a condition commercial banks lobbied for to contain deposit flight risk. A 12-month consumer pilot is planned for late 2027, per CryptoTimes, ahead of a 2029 full launch the ECB says hinges on final legislation clearing the Council this year.
Payment sovereignty and next steps
The stated rationale is payment sovereignty. Non-European companies handle 61% of euro-area card transactions, primarily Visa and Mastercard. Committee member Markus Ferber said the EU "can no longer accept that digital payments are largely dependent on the goodwill of a few foreign providers," per CoinDesk. ECB President Christine Lagarde separately cited reducing the dominance of dollar-pegged stablecoins from Tether and Circle as a driver, CoinDesk reported. A full Parliament plenary vote is set for early July in Strasbourg; trilogue talks with member states are expected to wrap by year-end, per Euronews. The committee vote came within hours of the US Senate's 85-5 vote to ban a Federal Reserve retail CBDC; together they mark a concrete split on state digital money between the two currency blocs.
