Cipollone told lawmakers that the uncertain geopolitical environment has made timely progress on the digital euro “essential to strengthen Europe’s autonomy in payments.”
Five days from reassurance to warning
When he delivered the keynote at the eighth International Conference of Regional Card Schemes and Retail Financial Market Infrastructures on November 5, Cipollone said the 12-month pilot would begin in the second half of 2027.
He repeated similar talking points in his speech to lawmakers on Tuesday, saying that they are moving ahead with preparations for the pilot.
Cipollone said, “Starting in the second half of 2027, the pilot will involve Eurosystem staff, participating payment service providers (PSPs) and selected merchants offering everyday services – for example in canteens – at the ECB and participating national central banks.”
One of the points he raised on November 5 is that issuance in 2029 was still possible. However, he added a caveat, which is that lawmakers have to finish the law this year.
He sees the project as a remedy for a fragmented market in which 13 euro-area countries depend on non-European firms for in-store card payments.
When a European Parliament vote slipped in April from May 5 to June 23, Cipollone shrugged it off at a Peterson Institute discussion.
“We have been patient for three years, it doesn’t cost much to wait a couple more months,” he said, adding that the 2029 timeline would hold as long as final legislation arrived by year-end.
The legislative clock is the whole story
The chances of hitting the 2029 target depend largely on the timeliness of the rulemaking. EU lawmakers are meant to finish the law in 2026 to make the timeline feasible; however, negotiation is still ongoing with roughly seven weeks left in the year.
Cipollone has said talks among the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission are underway and expected to close this year. Those talks follow a committee vote in June, when the Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee adopted its position by 43 votes to 14 with one abstention, setting demands on privacy, fees and holding limits.
Parliament rapporteur Fernando Navarrete Rojas said the digital euro would “complement cash, never replace it.” The Parliament later voted in July to open negotiations with member states.
Why Frankfurt keeps pointing at foreign card firms
The ECB’s case rests on control of payment rails. Cipollone sees the digital euro as a question of sovereignty. He said in an October interview that non-European companies govern two-thirds of card payments in the euro area.
“In recent years Europe has learned that, for some essential services, we cannot rely only on third parties. We saw this with energy, and we’re seeing it today with defense. And the same is true for payments,” he said.
He added that sovereignty does not mean shutting outside firms out, only having the option to choose.
The ECB has also pitched the project against privately issued stablecoins. President Christine Lagarde has promoted it as an alternative to dollar-pegged tokens, warning that their spread could erode central banks’ grip on monetary policy.
The planned pilot would run real transactions by ECB and national central bank staff, with 36 market operators taking part.
