ECB’s Christine Lagarde shifts focus to digital euro rollout after holding rates

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• The European Central Bank has completed its preparatory work on the digital euro, awaiting action from political institutions.
• ECB President Christine Lagarde emphasized a data-driven approach to interest rate decisions, with inflation projected to meet the 2% target by 2028.
• The digital euro is prioritized as a strategic financial tool, expected to launch in the second half of 2026.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Thursday the central bank has completed its technical and preparatory work on the digital euro and that it is now up to political institutions to act. The project, which aims to create a public digital means of payment, is under review by the European Council and the European Parliament.

Her remarks came during the ECB’s final press conference of the year, where policymakers left the eurozone’s key interest rates unchanged. Lagarde reaffirmed the ECB’s commitment to a meeting-by-meeting approach to rate decisions, saying they will be based on “incoming economic and financial data,” the inflation outlook, and how effectively policy is working.

“We are not pre-committing to a particular rate path,” Lagarde said, adding that inflation remains on track to return to the ECB’s 2% target by 2028. Revised projections show headline inflation averaging 2.1% in 2025 and dipping below target in 2026 and 2027 before rebounding to 2.0% in 2028.

While monetary policy holds steady, Lagarde pointed to the digital euro as a strategic priority for Europe’s financial future.

“Our ambition is to make sure that in the digital age there is a currency that is the anchor of stability for the financial system,” she said. The ECB also called on E.U. institutions to move quickly to adopt the digital euro regulation.

ECB board member Piero Cipollone has also said a digital euro could ensure continuity of payments during cyberattacks or power outages that disrupt traditional banking infrastructure.

The digital euro is expected to launch in the second half of 2026, aligning with the timeline of other euro-backed stablecoin initiatives regulated under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, regulation.

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