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Digital Euro: What separates Parliament and EU countries when it comes to privacy
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The European Parliament and the EU member states have been negotiating the Digital Euro since this month. When it comes to privacy and data protection, the institutions have different ideas. Parliament wants stricter rules, EU countries want more data traces.
How much privacy would you like? Representatives of the European Parliament and the EU member states are currently facing this question. Because these two institutions are currently negotiating the digital euro in the so-called trilogue. A comparison shows that in some areas the European Parliament has more data protection and privacy in mind than the federal states.
That's how it orients itselfhttps://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2024_2029/plmrep/COMMITTEES/ECON...of the EU Parliamentto the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and repeatedly refers to it. According to data protection expert Thilo Weichert, this also applies without this explicit reference in the regulation: "It doesn't need to be mentioned. Not only is it not harmful, but it is also useful for clarification and later for practical application," he says when asked by netzpolitik.org.
Data protection authorities are commissioned
A practical consequence: the data protection authorities would be explicitly responsible for monitoring compliance with data protection rules.
Thehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finance_Watch#National_partners">OrganizationFinanceWatchwelcomes this. “Data protection authorities are better suited than financial supervisory authorities to monitor compliance with privacy and data protection requirements by payment service providers in the Digital Euro because they have more expertise in this area,”https://www.finance-watch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Finance-Watch-D...the NGO.
Weichert also supports this: “At the national level, we can see that the financial market supervisory authority Bafin and the Bundesbank have often not cared at all about data protection.”
Data processing only if “absolutely necessary”
In addition to the reference to the GDPR, the EU Parliament wants central banks and private payment service providers to only process data that is “strictly necessary” to fulfill their tasks. In thehttps://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-16695-2025-INIT/en/pdf"...of the Member Statesthe appropriate wording is missing.
From Thilo Weichert's point of view, this difference is also symbolic of the different approach: "The Parliament is trying to implement the fundamental right of data protection with the Digital Euro. The Council, on the other hand, is trying to use the data generated by the Digital Euro for surveillance purposes." This is particularly about obligations for private payment service providers.
More privacy for online payments…
Parliament is going beyond the Council's demands on another point: it would like to at least keep the option open of allowing more privacy for online payments with the digital euro in the future.
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The Digital Euro (D€) is currently planned so that you can use it to pay online and offline. In the online version, all payments are made via the system of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks. So they end up in a huge Eurosystem database, albeit pseudonymized. In the offline version, users should exchange digital euros as tokens directly between devices. This is intended to achieve a level of privacy that is at least closer to cash.
Already in the parliamentary process there were voices calling for a higher degree of privacy in the online D€. Left-wing MP Martin Schirdewan told netzpolitik.org at the time: “We need a privacy threshold for smaller payments that, like cash, guarantees the highest possible anonymity.” Markus Ferber from the Bavarian CSU also suggested a threshold of 100 euros per transaction. These demands for a trivial limit have not been implemented.
...will only be checked in the future
Nevertheless, the MEPs agreed among themselves to have this option officially examined at least once. Three years after the introduction of the Digital Euro, the European Commission is to present a report on the extent to which the anti-money laundering regulations can be adapted to give smaller payments with the online D€ the same privacy as the offline version.
There is no such test mandate in the Member States.
The technical implementation is also still unclear. Since the payments are processed via the ECB systems, the data - in contrast to the offline D€ - is initially collected by the central banks and payment service providers. However, shorter deletion periods could be prescribed for payment data below a certain threshold.
The de minimis limit is a central concern for Weichert so that amounts of up to 200 euros can be exchanged anonymously, so that everyday expenses - analogous to cash - can be carried out safely without any personal reference. Otherwise, the stored data would be “a target for all kinds of security authorities – from the secret service to the police.”
Finance Watch also advocates a de minimis limit. Digital central bank money like the digital euro should be accompanied by a higher degree of privacy than conventional digital payment methods. “For online transactions [with the digital euro], however, the currently proposed privacy standards are largely at the same level as the standards that already apply to card payments or online banking.”
Subtle differences in the offline D€
There is also a difference in the offline function, albeit in more detail. To combat money laundering and terrorist financing, it is only saved when the device is loaded with tokens - or, conversely, these are converted back into online D€ or account credit. In principle, payment service providers should not be allowed to store this transaction data.
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Parliament also wants to make it clear that transaction data may only be stored on the smartphone if the user explicitly agrees to this. “If offline transactions are automatically saved on the smartphone without consent, third parties can still access the transaction data,” explains Finance Watch. This can be the case, for example, when police and public prosecutors search smartphones or other strangers gain access to a device.
“The parliamentary motions must be supported throughout”
Overall, Finance Watch advocates adopting the European Parliament's data protection proposals. Weichert also told netzpolitik.org: “It is consistently the case that the parliamentary motions should be supported.”
However, Finance Watch writes that the position of the member states also represents an improvement compared to the European Commission's proposal. “The digital euro should meet the highest standards of privacy and data protection to ensure the protection of users’ fundamental rights and increase public trust in the digital euro,” recommends Finance Watch.
Where Parliament and the Council are still apart
The organization Finance Watch, which was founded in 2011 as a counterweight to the financial lobby, also has the positions of the Council and Parliament on several other important points in the trilogue negotiationshttps://www.finance-watch.org/policy-portal/digital-finance/getting-the-.... There are different ideas about the fee model for retailers, the issue of the digital euro to people without a bank account, the obligation to accept the digital euro and the holding limits.
Two trilogue meetings have already taken place so far. “There have not yet been any significant political agreements,” says a spokesman for MEP Damian Boeselager (Volt) to netzpolitik.org. Boeselager is negotiating the Digital Euro for the European Greens group in the European Parliament. According to his spokesman, three trilogue rounds are currently planned, two of them in October.
In principle, Parliament and the Council wanted to have the legislative package for the digital euro passed by the end of the year. Then, according to the European Central Bank's plans, the digital currency could be introduced as early as 2029.
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Become part of this unique community and support our public interest-oriented, advertising- and tracking-free journalismhttps://netzpolitik.org/spenden/?via=rss">nowwith a donation.
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Source: de.indymedia