ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane is strong for a digital euro. It is not just about adjusting the current monetary system to the digital age, said the best economist of the European Central Bank (ECB) in a lecture at a conference in Cork in Ireland.
“It’s about Europe against the background of increasing geopolitical fragmentation are monetary and financial fate in his own hands,” he said.
The ECB has been running the project of a digital euro for years and wants to clarify fundamental questions this year. Lane pointed to a considerable dependence on Europe of payment transactions. International card providers such as Visa and Mastercard have now handled 60 percent of the card payments in the Euro area.
Payments via the app are increasing sharply
“In 13 of the 20 euros countries, national card systems were completely replaced by these international alternatives,” the ECB economist criticized. In addition, payments per mobile phone are made from apps that were dominated by non -European technology groups such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal, almost a tenth of transactions in the retail trade. And the annual growth here is double digit.
“This dependence exposes Europe to the risk of economic pressure and coercion and has an impact on our strategic autonomy,” Lane warned. She limits Europe’s ability to control critical aspects of its financial infrastructure. The ECB is currently working on completing the rules for a digital version of the community currency and promotes the development of a platform and infrastructure.
ECB director Piero Cipollone recently said that the central bank was on schedule with the project and should therefore be ready to make a decision about the transition to the next project phase by November 2025. The EU committee has submitted its legislative proposal for a digital euro in June 2023. The introduction is currently expected until around 2030.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
