The Economic Committee of the European Parliament has given the green light for negotiations on the digital euro, planning to advance both the online and offline versions of the digital euro simultaneously

According to Bloomberg, the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) has approved a position paper on the legal framework for the digital euro, paving the way for negotiations with member state governments and the European Commission on the final rules. The plan will advance both the online and offline versions of the digital euro, with the European Central Bank aiming to complete the launch by 2029 and to conduct a pilot within the next 12 months to validate the infrastructure in real-world scenarios. Regulators hope that the digital euro issued by the European Central Bank will reduce reliance on Visa, Mastercard, and dollar-denominated stablecoins, while providing a "secure European domestic option" for retail payments without eliminating physical cash.