A Digital Euro: Challenges and Opportunities

The rapid progress of digitalisation is leading to financial innovation including the potential introduction of digital central bank currencies. In the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission are currently working on plans for the introduction of an electronic form of money issued by the Eurosystem (the ECB and national central banks), a digital euro, which would be accessible to all citizens and firms as a complement to cash. Against this background, the Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion (ECO section) of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is currently working on an own-initiative opinion on the prospects of such a digital euro. This opinion aims to assess state of play in preparation for a digital euro, the prospects of its introduction and provide timely input from the civil society perspective to the Commission and the ECB to the ongoing discussion.

In the framework of the work on this opinion, the ECO section decided to organise a hearing on Wednesday, 7 September 2022, bringing together experts from organised civil society, academia as well as decision-makers to discuss the challenges and opportunities linked to the creation of a digital euro. The findings of the hearing will feed into the EESC own-initiative opinion.

The event will be webstreamed (original, EN, FR, DE). No registration is needed and participation is free of charge.

Follow us on Twitter: @EESC_ECO

Ask your questions to the panellists via Sli.do with the event code: #DigitalEuro