By Huw Jones
LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - A digital euro will offer
choice in making payments and is not a "Big Brother" project
that seeks to control people, the European Union's financial
services commissioner Mairead McGuinness said on Wednesday.
The European Central Bank has yet to decide if it will go
ahead with introducing a digital euro, but McGuinness is due
soon to publish a draft EU law which would give it a legal
underpinning, if a decision to move ahead is taken.
The ECB has said it does not want to keep any personal data
on its users, officials at the central bank have said.
But critics say a digital version of the euro could be used
to pry on people's activities, and make it harder to use cash
for making payments and purchases.
"This is not a Big Brother project," McGuinness told the
European Parliament.
"I respect those that have that view, but frankly I would
ask them to calm it down a little. We should not address this
issue to citizens in this chamber as any sense of a project of
control. It's a project of choice," McGuinness said.
If the EU decides to grant formal 'legal tender' status to a
digital euro, the bloc would need to do likewise for the cash
version of the single currency, McGuinness said.
The European Commission will therefore propose during the
current quarter a draft law to ensure that the cash form of the
euro is legal tender, in line with a ruling from the European
Court of Justice in 2021, McGuinness said.
The court said legal tender means mandatory acceptance of
the euro at full face value, along with power to discharge from
payment obligations or release from debt.
The Bank of England and Britain's finance ministry are
studying a digital version of the pound, and the BoE has said it
would have the same legal status as cash.
(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Messaging: huw.jones.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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