ECB insists Lagarde's exit will not delay digital euro

The European Central Bank says Christine Lagarde's early departure will not delay the digital euro, weeks after the president announced she would step down on 7 February 2027 — almost nine months ahead of schedule. Alessandro Giovannini, adviser to the digital euro programme manager, told a Euronews panel at the Web Summit in Lisbon that the pilot remains set for 2027 and that EU lawmakers remain committed to agreeing the currency's legal framework by the end of 2026.

"I'm not afraid that any change or anything will impact it, because this is a strategic project," Giovannini said, describing the digital euro as "a European project" rather than the ECB's alone. The reassurance lands as half the bank's six-member Executive Board turns over: Lagarde in February, Germany's Isabel Schnabel in January, and chief economist Philip Lane, whose mandate expires in May 2027. Spain's Pablo Hernández de Cos and the Netherlands' Klaas Knot are the two main candidates to succeed Lagarde.

The law that will govern the currency is still being written. The European Parliament and EU governments have been in trilogue negotiations since July, with Ireland — chairing the talks for the member states — reportedly aiming for a deal on 18 November. How the fees merchants pay are calculated, part of the digital euro's business model, remains unresolved.

Technical preparations proceed regardless of Brussels. In July the ECB picked 36 banks and payment firms, including Deutsche Bank, UniCredit and Stripe, for a 12-month pilot starting in the second half of 2027; in October it chose network providers including Nexi and Telefónica to connect them. First pilot transactions should come "in less than one year," Giovannini said, and the firms building the system are all "European companies controlled by other European companies." The shared infrastructure will be paid for by the ECB and "offered for free by the ECB to everyone" — development is estimated at around €1.3 billion before first issuance, with running costs of about €320 million a year from 2029, borne by eurozone central banks as banknotes are today.

Giovannini dismissed fears that the project threatens privacy. The commercial target is stated openly: cutting Europe's reliance on international card schemes such as Visa and Mastercard. On timing, the ECB trails China, which has piloted its digital yuan since 2019, while the United States passed the GENIUS Act in 2025 and left the field to private stablecoins. "The best moment to plant a tree was yesterday," Giovannini said, adding that "Europe has its own time" and that the wait until 2029 reflects the scale of coordination — more than 4,000 payment providers and millions of merchants.

First issuance is planned for 2029. By then, China's digital yuan pilot will be a decade old.