European digital identity: how the EU’s big bet is evolving

Lamo delves into this last topic. “I am convinced that there will be a more reserved, more negationist sector that will say: ‘This is to police us’. The goal is not, or at least the original idea is not to control the citizen, but to try to improve your life through technology.” To counter this line of thinking, his prescription includes “a lot, a lot of pedagogy, explaining very well what it is for and what its advantages are.” Showing this advice, he repeats it: “Simplify your transactions, make your life less complicated, be more digital. Moving towards the future, and also in a very secure way, ensuring that in this way you do not share unnecessary data.” González points out: “Citizens will be able to prove their identity, share documents and access digital services in a simple, secure and recognizable way throughout the EU, from their mobile phone. For example, accessing public services (such as applying for a birth certificate), opening a bank account or applying for a place at a university in any Member State.”

Pedagogy will also be necessary to overcome the reluctance of the population to share their personal data, not because of the issue of control, but because of the greater sensitivity to data theft. “It is about centralizing in a secure way and guaranteeing the citizen that he will always provide only the necessary data,” says Lamo. “We must give certainty,” he reiterates, “to explain that this digital identity is not mandatory, but that any person, if they want it, can use it; that it will be aimed at making their life easier and that it is not a carte blanche to share data with everyone.”

This is not mandatory and covers another social sector that can be reached by the digital portfolio: groups that do not have the technological skills or sufficient resources to use it. The regulation does not make the use of the digital wallet mandatory; moreover, in certain contexts of use it is explicitly foreseen that the population should not have “any obligation to use the European Digital Identity Wallet to access private services, and their access to services should not be limited or hindered by not using the European Digital Identity Wallet”. Respecting this non-digital alternative can also help to mitigate the reservations of the groups most reluctant to share their data. There is still time for this scenario: at least two years in which the pedagogy that Lamo demands must be applied to promote an initiative that, well targeted, has great potential.