MEPs backed an amendment to offer both forms of the digital currency, rejecting attempts by the rapporteur from the European People’s party to slow down its adoption with an offline-only option.
Jonás Fernández, a spokesperson for the socialist S&D party on economic and monetary affairs, says: “We call on the EPP rapporteur to take note of the House’s position and abandon a strategy that divides the project – one that merely seeks to postpone indefinitely the approval of an online digital euro while, in the meantime, pushing through an offline digital euro with the support of the far right. Slowing down the process is not a viable option. It is time to move forward decisively.”
The digital euro project is being pushed by the European Central Bank as a means to protect monetary sovereignty at a time of turmoil in cross-border trading and unpredictable mood swings in the White House.
