EU Lawmakers Question Digital Euro Amid ECB System Outage

A disruption in the payment system of the ECB has raised fresh doubts among lawmakers about the regulator’s ability to implement a national digital currency (CBDC) project, according to Reuters.

Issues with the Target 2 (T2) system late last month resulted in transaction delays of a day. The cause was an error in the initial diagnosis of the failure by ECB technical specialists.

Regulatory representatives stated that the digital euro will be architecturally closer to the TIPS instant payment system, which “processes millions of small transfers around the clock and has proven to be reliable.” According to central bank representatives, the TIPS outage on the day of the incident was insignificant.

Four out of eight European Parliament groups expressed concern over the incident. In their view, it calls into question the ECB’s reliability in developing the digital euro, which is intended to function as a new payment system across the eurozone.

The CBDC launch is planned for October 2025, provided the necessary legislation is adopted, said ECB President Christine Lagarde. She noted that all technical and legal work is being conducted with this deadline in mind.

According to Lagarde, the project’s implementation requires the agreement of all key stakeholders: the European Parliament, the EU Council, and the European Commission. She emphasized that the launch of the digital euro is “necessary at both the wholesale and retail levels.”

Back in February, OMFIF reported a decline in central banks’ interest in CBDCs. According to researchers, the share of central banks indicating less interest in issuing a digital national currency rose from zero in 2022 to 15%.