00:00Every EU country is legally required to give its citizens a digital identity wallet.
00:05Right now, only three have one that works.
00:08The mandate comes from the EIDAS 2.0 regulation adopted in 2024.
00:14Under Article 5a, every member state must offer at least one certified wallet by December 24, 2026.
00:22Before that deadline, EU-funded pilots involving 350 organizations tested the system, over 1,500 digital credentials were issued, and
00:32more than 8,000 cross-border transactions were completed.
00:36The wallet stores, national ID and driving license, university diplomas and professional qualifications, health insurance and disability cards, and bank
00:44account details.
00:45Its issuance is free, and so are qualified E-signatures for personal use.
00:50Three safeguards were built into the design.
00:53Selective disclosure proving you're over 18 without revealing your name.
00:57Unlinkability, services cannot compare notes on the same user, and issuer blindness, the government that issued the ID cannot see
01:06where you use it.
01:07Uses voluntary and paper documents remain valid.
01:11But national rollout is nowhere near uniform.
01:14Only Italy, France and Denmark have live wallets today.
01:17Italy has nearly 8 million monthly users, built on a base of 41.5 million existing digital identities.
01:24Germany will launch it on January 2, 2027, after the EU deadline, backed by a 214 million euros budget.
01:32The Netherlands has delayed to late 2027, after a pilot with just 57 users showed low public interest.
01:39And Bulgaria is still at the legislative stage.
01:42Even Italy, the frontrunner, hit a bottleneck with its paper document renewal appointments, spiking by 42% in a single
01:50week.
01:51For businesses, the most important deadline is December 24, 2027.
01:56Banks, telecoms, energy and transport firms, healthcare providers, EU platforms with more than 45 million EU users must accept the
02:06wallet by then.
02:07Banks face an earlier trigger from July 2027, the Anti-Money Laundering Regulation recognises the wallet as a valid way
02:15to verify customer identity.
02:17Digital rights groups, including EDRI, have formally objected to the draft implementing rules,
02:22arguing they would add mandatory facial recognition data collection and narrow the privacy protections the original law promised.
02:29The legal deadline is coming. If the 27 member states can meet it, is a longer story.
02:35For the full picture, read our in-depth explainer on euronews.com.
