Central Bank Digital Currencies in Europe: the digital euro, non-euro EU countries and the 2024 elections

What dynamics drive the unrolling of a digital euro, and potentially digital European currencies outside the eurozone? The eurozone planned to launch a digital euro for both financial institutions and consumers in 2025, worried about potential monetary sovereignty unless it does so. But political support in the European Parliament was divided before the 2024 election and potentially lacking afterward due to the rise of parties harbouring conspiracy theories about a digital euro's impact on personal freedoms. This paper tracks the debate around the eurozone's plans, and then extends the analysis to ask whether and how this project affects the decisions of non-euro area EU member states. Do they respond with digital currencies of their own, rely more on the euro, to rely more on an international digital dollar for trade, or abstain altogether? This paper uses the motivations of the European Commission and European Central Bank regarding the digital euro as a vehicle for ensuring monetary sovereignty in a crypto-rich payments environment, and compares it to decisions and justifications in countries with different growth models and economic profiles.