The European Central Bank is facing opposition from banks and MEPs regarding the launch of the digital euro.

The European Central Bank's (ECB) plan to launch a digital euro by 2029 faces significant opposition from 14 major banks, including Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas. These institutions, united in the European Payments Initiative (EPI), warn that a digital euro could undermine private sector payment systems. Banks believe that the current configuration of the digital euro does not provide clear added value for consumers and propose the use of the Wero digital wallet, created to counter the dominance of Visa and Mastercard.

In the European Parliament, Fernando Navarrete, from the European People's Party group, supports a scaled-down version of the digital euro project, considering concerns that the digital currency could threaten the role of the euro. The ECB began analyzing a central digital currency in 2020, and recently decided to adopt the necessary measures for issuing the digital euro, with a pilot program in 2027. Finance ministers from the euro area support the ECB's plans, calling for the swift adoption of legislation.

Navarrete proposes that the digital euro be used only for offline payments, not as a means of real-time payment. A PwC study estimates the costs of launching the digital euro at 30 billion euros for the financial sector, an estimate contested by the ECB, which considers the costs to be much lower. This debate reflects concerns about Europe's strategic autonomy in the face of US payment providers.