In a speech on 6 October, the ECB set out the timeline for the digital euro. The Council agreed its position in December 2025 and the European Parliament in July 2026, and trilogue negotiations are under way. If the legislation is finished by the end of 2026, the ECB aims for a possible first issuance in 2029. A 12-month pilot will start in the second half of 2027 with 36 selected payment providers.

What it means: The timeline set out by the ECB turns the digital euro from a theoretical debate into a planning item for banks, merchants and point-of-sale vendors, since there are now concrete milestones: legislation completed during 2026, a pilot from the second half of 2027 and a possible first issuance in 2029. The pilot with selected payment providers will show in practice how the system works in real conditions and what technical requirements participants will face, which will shape later investment in software and terminals. It must be stressed, however, that everything depends on the trilogue negotiations being concluded, and that the ECB will only decide on issuance once the regulation is adopted, so the dates are targets rather than commitments. For businesses in Greece, the practical step is to ask terminal and payment providers whether their systems will support the new instrument, so that adapting fits into the normal upgrade cycle.

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