ECB’s Cipollone Pitches Digital Euro As Cash-Like Payments Tool To Cut Foreign Dependence

The European Central Bank (ECB) is pressing its case for a digital euro as both a consumer product and a strategic hedge, as Europe weighs how much of its everyday payments system should sit on infrastructure owned outside the bloc.

In a recent interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone boiled the pitch down to convenience.

“Quite simply: it’s easy. You can use it everywhere – in Germany and across the entire euro area.”

He said the project aims to be all-inclusive by design, including in small shops and for people without smartphones.

“Every retailer who accepts digital payments today will in future be required to accept the digital euro as well. And retailers will be pleased, because fees will fall significantly – after all, the ECB is providing the infrastructure.”

In September, Cipollone said a mid-2029 launch for the digital euro was a reasonable and realistic timeline.

In an interview with @SZ, Executive Board member Piero Cipollone explains that the digital euro will simplify payments for consumers, lower fees for retailers and provide a European infrastructure that fosters innovation https://t.co/0Q3heGUkTU pic.twitter.com/iWLkVtsQdy

— European Central Bank (@ecb) January 26, 2026

Payments Sovereignty Emerges As Core Case For Digital Euro

Cipollone framed it as an add-on rather than a replacement for existing methods, with basic use free. “The digital euro, by contrast, will be free for basic use. It will be like cash, but in digital form. We’re simply creating an additional option. Coins and banknotes will still be available; no one will be forced to switch.”

He then shifted from convenience to sovereignty, arguing that digital money should not depend on non-European technology. “Don’t you feel safer knowing that the money you pay with every day is based on European technology, meaning it is in European hands and does not depend on third countries?”

To make that point, Cipollone cited the International Criminal Court, where US sanctions cut judges off from card access. “Their US cards were cut off – limiting their ability to pay across Europe, because they were blocked by Visa and Mastercard. With a digital euro they could have continued to pay throughout the euro area.”

ECB Warns Foreign Providers Could Cut Access

He warned that reliance runs deeper than it looks, because national cards often route through international schemes for cross-border and online use, and some euro area countries lack domestic payment systems.

Cipollone argued the digital euro would create both the payments plumbing and the public money that flows through it, and he said the infrastructure could help European private solutions scale across borders.

That is where the foreign-dependence point becomes explicit. “Today US corporations own critical parts of the infrastructure and, in theory, they could cut us off. With a European infrastructure, we would own the “rails”. If one provider dropped out, Europe would have enough alternatives left.”

He also argued that speed matters, because standards and acceptance rules shape markets even before any launch date. “Every delay makes us more reliant on foreign payment systems.”