It will ensure that people and businesses have an additional choice – on top of current private options – that allows them "to pay digitally with a widely accepted, cheap, secure and resilient form of public money in the euro area." 

If the proposal to establish the legal framework for the digital euro is adopted by the European Parliament and Council, it will ultimately be for the European Central Bank to decide if and when to issue the digital euro.

The Commission also set out a legislative proposal on the legal tender of euro cash to "safeguard the role of cash, ensure it is widely accepted as a means of payment and remains easily accessible for people and businesses across the euro area."

The European Commission published the following information:

Legislative proposals and related documents -

• Timeline of the initiative and stakeholder's feedback
• Proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro
  • Annexes to the proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of the digital euro
• Proposal for a Regulation on the provision of digital euro services by payment services providers incorporated in Member States whose currency is not the euro
• Impact assessment accompanying the proposals
• Summary of the impact assessment accompanying the proposals
• JRC research update: Potential impact of digital euro on banks' balance sheets and profitability
• Related proposal on a legal tender of euro cash

Press information -

• Press release
• Frequently asked questions
• Factsheet: The euro - Single currency package

According to the press release, the new EU Directive will provide for:

• "Direct access to bank account information across the Union: Law enforcement authorities and Asset Recovery Offices will have direct access to bank account information across the Union, through the single access point interconnecting bank account registries. This will enable the authorities to identify the banks in which suspects hold their accounts. Data protection safeguards will ensure that only limited information on the identity of the bank account holder would be made available.
• A common format for transaction records: the Directive will establish a common format for banks and crypto companies to provide the information on transactions – i.e., transaction records – to law enforcement authorities. The specifics of the format will be defined in an implementing act. Access to this information will be granted in accordance with national rules and procedural safeguards."

For further information, see the Proposal for a Directive on the access of competent authorities to centralised bank account registries through the single access point; and the staff working document.

The proposal will address a number of key elements: legal tender status, financial stability, privacy, anti-money laundering requirements, international use and distribution of the digital euro.

McGuinness encouraged the EU lawmakers to find a political compromise and speed up passage of MiCA. She said "MiCA rules will be the right tool to address the concerns on consumer protection, market integrity and financial stability." 

She added that had MiCA been in place, it could faciliate the implemention of sanctions against Russia as the sanctions also applied to crypto.  "Of course, sanctions implementation could be facilitated if our framework on crypto was in place, and if all cryptoasset service providers were regulated entities and subject to effective supervision in the European Union," said McGuinness.

The package comprises of six elements including financial measures. Under that set of restrictions, there is a ban on providing high-value cryptoasset services to Russia. This will contribute to closing potential loopholes.

It seeks to collect further information on expected impacts on key industries (financial intermediation, payment services, merchants), users (consumer associations, retailers’ associations), chambers of commerce and other stakeholders in international trade.

The targeted consultation will gather further evidence on the following issues:

• users’ needs and expectations for a digital euro;
• the digital euro’s role for the EU’s retail payments and the digital economy;
• making the digital euro available for retail use while continuing to safeguard the legal tender status of euro cash;
• the digital euro’s impact on the financial sector and the financial stability;
• application of anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML-CFT) rules;
• the privacy and data protection aspects;
• international payments with a digital euro.

The deadline for responses is 14 June 2022.

G7 Leaders also published a statement on the situation in Ukraine, commiting to maintain the effectiveness of its restrictive measures against Russia by cracking down on evasion and closing loopholes. The statement said: "In addition to other measures planned to prevent evasion, we will ensure that the Russian state and elites, proxies and oligarchs cannot leverage digital assets as a means of evading or offsetting the impact of international sanctions, which will further limit their access to the global financial system. It is commonly understood that our current sanctions already cover cryptoassets. We commit to taking measures to better detect and interdict any illicit activity, and we will impose costs on illicit Russian actors using digital assets to enhance and transfer their wealth, consistent with our national processes."