Brussels – The digital euro and the technologies required to bring it into circulation may be necessary for genuine change, but they are not sufficient. On their own, they are of little use. To ensure the EU is future-proof, legislation is needed, as is the elimination of the fragmentation that still exists within the single market and, above all, in the capital markets. This, in a nutshell, is the gist of the speech delivered by Piero Cipollone, a member of the ECB Executive Board and head of the task force on the digital euro, at the symposium on “The Future of Payments” organised by the Bundesbank.
“Technology alone is not enough. We need a legal framework that matches our technological ambition,” he said, addressing politicians. “Advanced technology cannot compensate for fragmented law,” he insists. It is necessary to work at both the EU and national levels to establish common rules. As he explains, “technical interoperability without legal compatibility will remain incomplete and fail to overcome fragmentation.” If we continue to work in only one direction, “we risk building advanced digital rails on fragmented legal foundations.”
Cipollone’s reminder is not new. The ECB official in charge of the digital euro has already made it clear that EU institutions must approve the regulatory framework needed to make the digital euro a tool useful for growth, competitiveness, strategic autonomy and the completion of the single market. The Frankfurt forum serves merely to reiterate this call. “We need to turn technological connectivity into genuine market integration,” the Italian member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank insists. For this to be possible, “common standards, interoperable assets, open access, effective governance and legal certainty” are required.
The task ahead is neither small nor simple. As Cipollone insists, “to create these conditions, public authorities and market participants need to work together.” It is necessary to work as a team, and to act swiftly: “If we wait too long to take action, fragmentation may become entrenched. If we act now, we can do more than just modernise settlement.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
