# ECB under Lagarde launches the digital euro preparation phase

Date: 2023

On 18 October 2023 the European Central Bank, led by President [Christine Lagarde](/people/christine-lagarde), announced it would move the digital euro project into a multi-year preparation phase, finalising the rulebook and selecting providers for a potential central-bank digital currency. The ECB framed the work as preserving access to public money and payment resilience in a digitising economy, while stressing that any decision to actually issue a digital euro would depend on EU legislation. The initiative is one of the most consequential long-run monetary-infrastructure decisions in the euro area.

## Drivers

- Monetary Policy Tightening Stance: https://factrail.ai/drivers/econ-monetary-policy-tightening

## Sources

_Sources are listed on the canonical page._

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/econ-fact-lagarde-digital-euro-investigation-2023