PANews, June 23 – According to Bloomberg, the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has adopted a position paper on the legal framework for the digital euro, paving the way for negotiations with member state governments and the European Commission on final rules. The plan will advance both an online and an offline version of the digital euro, with the European Central Bank aiming to complete the rollout by 2029 and to conduct pilot programs over the next 12 months to test the infrastructure in real-world scenarios. Regulators hope that a digital euro issued by the European Central Bank will reduce reliance on Visa, Mastercard, and USD-denominated stablecoins, while providing a "secure European-native option" for retail payments without eliminating physical cash.