We support the digital euro and we have to move quickly, the Minister of National Economy and Finance said Kyriakos Pierrakakisin his placement in today’s (8.7.2025) meeting of ECOFIN in Brussels. Pointing out that there are five important opportunities, such as the strengthening of EU monetary sovereignty and financial integration.
The full position of Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis at the Ecofin meeting is as follows: “I thank the Danish Presidency for the inclusion of this important issue on the agenda. We support the creation of digital euro. This is an issue we have supported from the beginning, as, especially in today’s geopolitical environment, it is necessary to further enhance our monetary sovereignty.
In this light, we see that we have a threat and five opportunities in relation to the digital euro. Because at the end of the day, it’s not just a technological discussion- it’s a strategic debate.
The threat, to put it straight, is not to do it fast enough. We should not waste time, because digitization in payments and monetary system will happen and must happen quite quickly.
For this reason, we fully support the setting of a specific objective to reach an agreement by the end of the year. We believe that the technical discussions may be completed by then.
The five opportunities, in my opinion, are obvious:
- Further digitizing payments. I agree with many colleagues who spoke before that digital payments should complete cash, not fully replace them. At the same time, the benefits of digitizing payments are obvious in many countries- and certainly in mine. If you compare the tax evasion situation in Greece 10 years ago today, it is due to digital payments that we have managed to have a 4.8% primary surplus and conquer two -thirds of the vacuum in VAT. We must further enhance digital payments.
- Enhancing our monetary sovereignty. Today, we mainly use non -European payment systems within our market. We need to create our own national systems. Some countries have already done so- Greece has the IRIS system. There is interoperability between us, but the digital euro also has a monetary dimension, in addition to the paid of payments, which is very critical, and we must invest in it.
- Financial integration. We need to offer zero costs alternative to foreign payment systems- and the digital euro may be this alternative.
- Privacy. It’s not a threat, but an opportunity. We can ensure better terms of privacy. Perhaps not complete anonymity like cash, but definitely better terms than existing non -European systems.
- Motivation for innovation and efficiency. The digital euro will act as a signal in favor of innovation in payments, contributing to the broader digital and technological transformation.
In conclusion, as I pointed out at the beginning, it is not a technological but a strategic discussion. And for that very reason, we have to move on at high speed. “