The European Commission has today put forward two proposals to ensure that citizens and businesses can continue to access and pay with euro banknotes and coins across the euro area, and to set out a framework for a possible new digital form of the euro that the European Central Bank may issue in the future, as a complement to cash. The euro continues to be a symbol of Europe's unity and strength. Across the euro area and beyond, for more...

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The digital euro is a necessary step to ensure that our monetary system keeps up with digital advances. It will be widely accessible and easy to use while preserving privacy – just like cash. Our world is changing. Digitalisation has transformed society in ways that would have been difficult to imagine only ten years ago. It is also changing how we make payments: people increasingly want to pay digitally. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this shift. Central banks around the world...

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Financial institutions rely on third-party service providers for a range of services, some of which support their critical operations. These third-party dependencies have grown in recent years as part of the digitalisation of the financial services sector and can bring multiple benefits to financial institutions including flexibility, innovation and improved operational resilience. However, if not properly managed, disruption to critical services or service providers could pose risks to financial institutions and, in some cases, financial stability. In response to concerns over...

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The Council adopted today an eleventh package of economic and individual restrictive measures intended to strengthen existing EU sanctions and crack down on their circumvention, thereby further eroding Putin's war machine and his revenues. Our sanctions are already taking a heavy toll on the Russian economy and on the Kremlin’s ability to finance its aggression. Today’s package increases our pressure on Russia and Putin’s war machine. By tackling sanctions circumvention, we will maximise pressure on Russia by depriving it further...

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