The European Commission is planning to propose the legislation required for the introduction of the digital euro as a central bank digital currency issued by the European Central Bank (ECB) in 2023, EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness has confirmed.

The proposed legislation will “lay down the principles for the digital euro” before being debated and, if necessary, amended by the European Parliament and European Council, McGuinness told a conference hosted by the Banque de France.

The legislation “would be a necessary step” towards the issuance of a digital euro by the ECB and will address key issues identified during the European Commission’s targeted public consultation, including “the risk of disintermediation of banks and financial stability risks” and whether “the digital euro should be granted legal tender status — like euro cash or not”, McGuinness explained.

Reports that the European Commission is aiming to table digital euro legislation in early 2023 first emerged in February.

The ECB launched the two-year investigation phase of its digital euro project in July 2021 and announced it is to trial five prototype digital euro payment solutions across key use cases in September.

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