Interview with Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Karl de Meyer

24 May 2023

As the ECB celebrates its 25th anniversary today, where do things stand with the digital euro project that you are responsible for?

We are studying the design of the digital euro, its distribution and its impact on the financial sector. There are around 50 people in the team working on this project. We are in regular contact with the European Commission which is due to present a legislative proposal in June. This will provide the regulatory framework for the digital euro. Then in October the Governing Council will decide whether to launch a preparation phase to develop and test the digital euro. This phase could last two or three years. If the Governing Council and the European legislators – Member States and Members of the European Parliament – agree, we could launch the digital euro in three or four years.

Why does the euro area need a central bank digital currency?

To…