Tomorrow is expected to be an important day for the future of the digital euro. The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON Committee) is due to discuss this issue then (see the eMeeting page for the documents):

Open letter by NGOs
On 17 June a group of NGOs sent an open letter to EU institutions, explaining that the digital euro could be a public, European alternative to existing digital payment services (currently dominated by third country providers) if certain conditions are met:

When you pay digitally today, your transaction most likely goes through Visa, Mastercard, or PayPal. All US companies. All subject to the CLOUD Act, which lets American authorities compel them to hand over user data with little recourse for you or for European regulators.
Europe’s digital payment infrastructure is, in other words, largely in US hands. And the geopolitical implications of that dependence are no longer theoretical. In early 2025, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court lost access to his email account following US sanctions. What happened with email can happen with payments.
That’s why since 2023, the European Union has been working on a Digital Euro. A digital currency issued by the European Central Bank and intended to serve as a public, European alternative to existing digital payment services. The core promise has always been: the Digital Euro should be cash-like: as private, as accessible, and as independent as notes and coins in your wallet.

That promise is now being put to the test. Together with other civil society organisations we have addressed an open letter to the Members of the European Parliament. Not because we oppose the Digital Euro. But because we want it to deliver on what it promised.

Promises vs. architecture
The core problem with the current draft is this: its privacy guarantees rely too heavily on institutional assurances rather than technical enforcement. That’s not enough.

Further details can be found in the open letter by epicenter, EDRi and others.