The EU Parliament has voted in favor of a European digital identity (EUid) based on digital wallets (e-wallets), with each member state able to opt for identifiers that change with individual providers. This is in opposition to the EU Commission’s demand for a lifelong personal identification number. Critics had opposed the project, arguing that citizens could become transparent and personal data could be compromised. With the reform of the eIDAS regulation underway, EU countries are required to make an e-wallet available to all citizens and companies in the future.
Users can save their national eID on their smartphone and link it to personal attributes such as a driver’s license, diplomas, birth or marriage certificates, payment details, and medical prescriptions. Users can choose to store the content on their device or an external cloud copy. Parliament also wants to ensure the right to anonymity on the Internet. Providers are encouraged to provide digital services without electronic identification or authentication. MEPs are also promoting an openly accessible source code for the EUid wallet to result in an open-source solution.
Parliament’s position contains detailed provisions on how citizens should be able to request, obtain, store, and combine personal identification data and electronic certificates that are necessary for online and offline authentication. The fight for strong data protection and anonymous services will continue in the trilogue negotiations. E-mail providers had previously complained that a “state wallet” would leave out mass use cases.
