Russia still has 'Visa' and 'Mastercard' branded cards, they just use local payment rails instead. Even before 2022 this was the case for local transactions albeit less so.

VISA/MC have advantage that you can use them for foreign transactions, it's widely accepted provided your country isn't sanctioned. So a hybrid approach like what Russia did between 2014-2022 may be good for Europe. Worst case, US sanctions you and you lose ability to do some foreign currency transactions, but Euro and similar transactions work just fine.

But I know its legally and politically difficult in Europe. Even the CBDC plan listed in the article has banks pissed about losing deposits from their balance sheet to the Central Bank (since Digital Euros are central bank liabilities) and fees.

That's why

Despite the substantial progress, two major issues remain: ‘holding limits’ and ‘compensation’. Holding limits determine the maximum amount users can keep in a digital euro wallet, while compensation mechanisms concern the fee models for commercial banks that provide digital euro services.

to prevent too much deposit flight, and btw you won't get paid ECB interest rate with CBDC unlike the banks who hold reserves.

and VISA/MC cards still have two other advantages. i. it's widely accepted worldwide, you can use it for foreign exchange. ii. chargebacks are possible. The latter can be fixed with locally branded cards (eg Russia has Mir) or I suppose CBDC can be made to support it, but does the EU want to?