European Digital ID Wallet – let’s get prepared!
The European Commission has selected four consortiums comprising public and private organisations from across Europe to run large scale pilot projects for the forthcoming EU Digital Identity Wallet. The Commission made the announcement in December 2022, following a call for proposals published in February of the same year. The aim of the pilot schemes is to test the deployment of the EU Digital Identity Wallet in priority use cases such as banking and eGovernment services, and across national borders. These projects will support successful implementation of eIDAS 2, the EU regulation that obliges all member states to make a digital identity wallet available to every citizen who wants one.
“We will make available our expertise in digital security, digital identity and digital payments to best support what we consider a pioneering initiative, which will advance digital security and sovereignty another step forward in Europe while ensuring more convenient services for citizens.”
The POTENTIAL Consortium will test six use cases (“Electronic Government services”, “Bank account opening”, “SIM registration”, “Mobile Driving Licence”, “Remote Qualified Electronic Signature”, and “Electronic Prescription”) across 19 EU member states and Ukraine. Thales, is working alongside a total of 148 participants within the consortium, chosen by the European Commission to build and explore such a wide range of use cases.
In parallel, the NOBID Consortium has been chosen to conduct pilots of pan-European payments based on the EU Digital Identity Wallet. NOBID encompasses six countries (Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia and Norway) and includes leading digital government agencies, banks and enterprises, as well as European technology providers such as Thales. NOBID’s pilot schemes will leverage existing payment infrastructure to enable payment issuance, instant payments, account-to-account transfers and payment acceptance both in-store and online.
The new consortia were created to shape the future of digital identity, and respond to citizens’ expectations in terms of both user-friendliness and data security and privacy. A recent survey of 1800 European citizens conducted by Thales shows that nearly 7 out of 10 people are looking forward to the EU Digital Identity Wallet. Expectations are even higher among those already using some form of national digital identity scheme. Unsurprisingly, the survey also shows that security is a key issue for 66% of respondents. The work of the recently announced consortia will therefore play a crucial role in ensuring that the EU Digital Identity Wallet lives up to the aspirations of governments, service providers and citizens throughout Europe.
