The President of the European Central Bank Christine Largarde has said that the ECB is looking to complete the preparation phase of the digital euro in October 2025. However, legislators recently raised doubts as to whether a digital euro can take flights according to a Reuters report on Monday.

Legislators are hesitant to rely on the ECB with the operation of a digital euro following a power outage that took place with target 2 (T2) payment system last month when it could not run transactions in one day. T2 handles large transactions. Although an ECB official said, according to the Reuters report, the digital euro would match its immediate payment system peaks, which are 24/7 and handle minor transactions.

“The recent power outage does not undermine the robustness of the digital Euroin infrastructure designed to guarantee that payments continue to function smoothly for users even when technical problems arise,” an ECB spokesman said after this article was published.

The ECB is eager to make sure the digital euro goes live.

“Fabio Panetta on the board and then Piero Cipollone, who has replaced Fabio, has taken the lead with a very good team focused on speeding up the pace and hopefully campaign enough with all stakeholders -which means the Europe -Parliament, Europe -the Council, the Europe Commission -so that we can not put to bed, but set to the reality of this digital euro,” press conference at a press conference.

The ECB aims to complete the preparation phase of the digital euro by October, the ECB spokesman clarified. The preparation phase began in November 2023. In this phase, ECB will test and discuss with different stakeholders as well as develop a rule book for the digital euro.

A decision made by the EU Board of Directors on whether or not to be issued a digital euro is expected to happen after the legislation comes into force. The Government Council includes Lagarde, Panetta together with other members of the ECB board plus the governors of national central banks.

The digital euro – which would be the EU Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) – a digital token that a central bank question – has been met with different views over the years. Some countries like Spain in the past have not seen a digital euro as something their nation needs.

Lagarde emphasized that the need is pressing.

“I think it’s critically important, and for the agnostics or skeptics, it now seems more relevant and more imperative than ever before, both at wholesale and at retail level,” Lagarde said.

If the EU decides to issue a digital euro, it will follow in the steps of countries such as the Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria, who have launched their CBDCs and swing away from the US attitude not to produce one.

Correction (March 10, 2025, 15:45 UTC): Adds comments from the European Central Bank spokesman who manages Lagard’s comments on a deadline in October 2025.