The POTENTIAL consortium headed by France and Germany has begun work on a large-scale pilot project to create a European Digital Identity wallet, with deployment excepted by 2025, it was announced at the launch event in Paris on Monday (10 July).

Read the original French article here.

The European Digital Identity Framework is a draft EU law to provide the legal framework for making national digital wallets interoperable across the EU where citizens can store official documents such as driving licenses and birth certificates.

As the regulation approaches the finishing line, the technical work to bring the European digital wallet to life has already started.

Co-chair representatives from France and Germany attended the event, along with French and German Digital Ministers Jean-Noël Barrot and Markus Richter.

POTENTIAL’s work will be coordinated by ANTS, the national agency that manages official documents in France, which was represented by Florent Tournois. On the technical side, it is coordinated by Moritz Heuberger on behalf of the German Ministry of the Interior.

Along with EWC, DC4EU and NOBID, POTENTIAL is one of the four EU consortia launched by the Commission to carry out “large-scale projects [that] will test the technical specifications […] for the EU’s digital identity portfolio,” the Commission’s website stated.

A total of just over €90 million has been allocated to various digital portfolio projects, half of which is funded by the EU budget, while all EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland, and Ukraine, are participating in one or more consortia.

Tournois explained to EURACTIV that each of these consortia “is focusing on different use cases”.

The POTENTIAL consortium

POTENTIAL addresses ‘citizen’ use cases, particularly access to digital public services, opening a bank account online, creating a telephone line using SIM cards, paperless driving licences, electronic signatures, and digital medical prescriptions.

On Monday, Barrot described POTENTIAL’s strategy as “inclusive and step-by-step”. The aim is that, by the end of 2025, all its use cases will be ready for deployment and use by EU citizens, businesses, and organisations.

The 144-strong consortium brings together public and private organisations from 20 countries, including Ukraine and 19 EU member states.

Anne-Gaëlle Baudouin, director of ANTS and the France Identité numérique programme, told EURACTIV about some of the use cases for which France would make proposals, as it has already developed similar projects.

In terms of access to government services, Baudouin recalled the existence of FranceIdentité – a tool that enables people to prove their identity online and which will make it possible for voters “to apply for a voting proxy in a completely digital way” as of the EU 2024 elections.

Tournois, for his part, also pointed to “the roadmap [for] the dematerialisation of driving licences is scheduled” for the start of 2024, putting France at the forefront in that domain.

Next steps

POTENTIAL is due to publish a status report by September, which will be used to draw up a roadmap for developing the six projects by 2025.

[Edited by Luca Bertuzzi]

Source: Euractiv.com