European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde Gave the world an update to Digital Euro Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) last week and said that the deadline for the preparation phase is now October 2025.
Lagarde spoke at a press conference on Friday, March 7, saying that the team behind the digital euro was “focused on speeding up the pace” and emphasized how they are campaigns to get other stakeholders such as the European Parliament and the European Commission on board.
The ECB president said Digital euros Be “critically important” and was more crucial now than before. But she noted that digital euros could not be launched without the right legislation adopted.
The digital euro survey phase ended in October 2023 and is now in its preparation phase. The next phase will be the decision phase, after which it will either be implemented or discarded.
Why is the digital euro more important than ever?
Lagarde’s statement that digital euro is more important than ever, even for its skeptics, suggests that the decision is likely to be positive and that euro CBDC will become reality. But why the accelerated timeline, and why does agnostic and skeptics start to see it as necessary? The answer is probably the seismic changes across the Atlantic in Washington, DC
Then President Donald Trump was elected in November and received its clear signal that the United States is no longer willing to sign up European security, the continent’s leaders have gathered and concentrated on solutions in a unique way.
While the EU’s strategy for how to handle an isolationist United States, whose president sees it as a “kind of enemy”, will be versatile, decisions will be guided by a policy called Strategic autonomyEnsure that the European continent can thrive without the United States.
One of the elements of strategic autonomy is financially and financially independent. Against the background of Washington’s protectionist tariffs, the EU will want to reduce its dependence on the US dollar and thus its exposure to American monetary policy and sanctions. The digital euro would strengthen the international role of euro and further its position as a reserve currencyNot to mention giving Europe an alternative about Trump or a future American leader places sanctions on the EU or any of its Member States.
The digital euro offers Up pages for paymentsalso. Europe’s payment system is notoriously fragmented, and while Sepa and the introduction of various fintech platforms have made it more efficient, there is still a lot of room for improvement. A generally accepted digital euro would facilitate a more even trading on the continent while reducing the relief of US and Chinese payment refinement companies such as VISA (Nasdaq: v), Mastercard (Nasdaq: MA) and Alipay.
Of course, retail payments are only half of the story. In light of the strong insight that Uncle Sam will no longer guarantee Europe’s defense against Russia, the EU has promised to spend 800 billion euros ($ 868 billion) in defensewith some individual states like Germany that promise to spend some tens or hundreds of billions. A uniform digital payment system would mean more efficient payments and better coordinated fiscal policy in crises.
In short, digital euro will help with Europe’s goal of strategic autonomy: faster, more efficient payments; a way to avoid sanctions from US-dominated systems such as Swift and less dependent on payment processors based in potentially hostile states.
America’s desire to increase the dollar’s dominance
Interestingly, President Trump’s rhetoric has driven the EU against a trend he wanted to avoid. Waste Is already the stated goal of the BRICS Alliance, and now the EU will look for ways to reduce its exposure to USD and, if not directly, ditch it.
Still, President Trump has clearly said that he will not lean back and watch Brics de-Dollarize and say they have to make a commitment or meet 100% customs.
This desire to strengthen the dominance is at the heart of the Trump administration stablecoin push. They see dollar -supported Stablecoins as a way to keep USD dominant and increase its use in trade worldwide.
“We will keep the United States the dominant reserve currency, and we will use Stablecoins to do so.” – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Crypto Summit, March 2025.
With the two American Stablecoin bills moving through the legislative process, we soon know exactly what form the new rules will take. Depending on what becomes law, it is clear that the current government benefits private Stablecoin issuers and is Death against an American CBDC.
This is how we have an American government that is against every move from the US dollar but who drives nations to look for alternatives precisely because of his rhetoric and trade policy. Although there may be some 5D chess on the game, it is more likely that contradictory goals are causing some blind spots.
In any case, the digital euro is now more likely to become a reality. If the EU achieves strategic autonomy, adopts joint fiscal policy and begins to issue bonds in scale, or any combination of the above, the euro may become a more serious rival for USD in the coming decades. Again, maybe the EU will decide not to continue with the digital euro: We just have to wait until October to find out!
Look: Find ways to use CBDC outside digital currencies
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