Public lecture by Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at an event hosted by the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and Latvijas Banka

Riga, 1 April 2026

Thank you, Governor Kazāks. I am grateful to the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and to Latvijas Banka for hosting this event and letting me explain how the digital euro can ensure Europe’s resilience and autonomy in payments in a fragmenting world.

Latvia’s relationship with the euro goes well beyond monetary policy.^[1] On adopting the single currency in 2014, at the height of the euro area crisis, Latvia made a strategic choice. When Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis asked his fellow Latvians if they wanted “to belong to core Europe”, the answer was yes.^[2]

This was ultimately a decision about sovereignty. For Latvia, as for Estonia and Lithuania, joining the euro – like becoming a member of EU and NATO before – was a way of anchoring its European identity and strengthening its…