The announced start of a digital currency by the ECB is incorrect, and as such has met with harsh comments because a large part of the population across Europe does not want a digital currency. At a recent press conference, Christine Lagarde mentioned the deadline as well as the next phase of digital euro preparation (October 2025), leaving a message that resonated on the Internet as the media reported that the launch of the digital euro was inevitable.

A large number of media as well as European parliamentarians commented on Christine Lagarde announcement as a claim that the digital euro will revive in October.

This media claim is incorrect, according to Christine Lagarde, even if it spread like wildfire through the social network and other media, encountering harsh criticism from the population across Europe. Some of the posts circulating on social media repeated misconceptions such as the “end of cash” and the start of financial surveillance allowing the ECB to “track and block” payments or access to money.

The question is justified and the fear exists because people across Europe are already encountering certain obstacles in money transactions.

In a recent conversation with A. Ana from Vienna who saved money to buy a new car and who shared her experience with us explaining what happened when she tried to buy a new vehicle with the saved money. She said she went to her dealer and asked to buy the vehicle for 20,000 euros, whereupon the dealer asked “how do you want to pay?”. She replied cash, followed by the reply “Ma’am we need the origin of the money, you can’t buy a car from us”. Even though i saved money and explained to the seller, I couldn’t buy a car with my savings. Anna was repeatedly told to “save in the bank” and not at home. She said that her parents taught her to save in a “piggy bank” from a young age and that these habits remained.

In Sweden, the Netherlands and other countries of the European Union, people encounter similar obstacles in financial transactions. In Sweden, two workers lent money to each other, and one of them received a call from the tax administration “Dear, why did the person M.M pay 100 crowns into your account?”.

There are more and more examples like this because financial freedom is being violated, and as people see it, digital currency will finally put an end to the financial freedom of Europeans.

The dissatisfaction of the Europeans is obvious. Allegedly, the ECB, as people say across social networks, does not work in the interest of the people. The question remains whether Europeans really want a digital currency?