The European Parliament will vote on Thursday to introduce the digital euro. The radical-right Patriots for Europe group requested the vote to block or delay the new currency. However, their efforts will highly likely fail because a clear parliamentary majority supports the project.
Approval by the European Parliament will allow negotiations with member states to begin. Member states wanted to start this process much earlier, but the European Parliament delayed taking action.
Political pressure shifts rapporteur’s stance
The parliamentary rapporteur for the file, Fernando Navarrete of the Europese Volkspartij (EVP), opposed the currency for a long time. However, multiple Brussels sources confirm that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Spanish government pressured Navarrete to change his mind.
“Strengthening the resilience of payments in Europe has become a geopolitical necessity,” Navarrete stated recently. “Europe needs the digital euro” to reduce dependency on foreign providers like Visa and Mastercard.
Dutch MEP Dirk Gotink of New Social Contract (NSC), which sits within the EVP, expects negotiators to finalize details before the end of this year. He noted on Wednesday that the remaining policy disagreements between member states and parliament are easy to bridge. Gotink strongly supports the digital euro.
Divided opinions across political factions
Political factions remain divided ahead of the vote. A portion of the right-conservative European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) will likely vote against the bill. The radical-right Patriots for Europe, including the Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV), and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) also oppose the currency. The far-left plans to vote against it as well.
The EVP expects split votes among its members. Meanwhile, the Socialists & Democrats and the Greens fully support the initiative. BBB MEP Sander Smit stated that his party wants the European Parliament to reject the digital euro entirely. The BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) belongs to the ECR faction.
@ anp | NEWS BRAINPORT
