EU prepares a "digital wallet": ID cards, driving licences, payments and passwords in a single application

The European Union will this week unveil a new "digital wallet" where every citizen will be able to store their ID card, make payments and manage passwords, the Financial Times reports. An official application for all 27 European countries will also allow other official documents such as driving licences and administrative documents to be stored.

Until now, each country has developed its own electronic ID cards and digital systems for storing documents, but the European Union wants to unify this identity at the European level under a single system.

In the midst of the pandemic-driven digital transition, Europe will present this new application. A system "that we trust and that every citizen can use everywhere in Europe to do everything from paying their taxes to renting a bike", as President Ursula Von der Leyen explained during the State of the Union 2020.

Users will be able to open the app via their smartphone's fingerprint reader or retina scanner, although the technical details of this "digital wallet" have not been specified. It seems clear that this application will not be mandatory, as it could discriminate against those who do not have such easy access to the technology.

To protect privacy, the EU says it will prevent companies from using the data collected for marketing and other commercial activities. As an example, according to the sources consulted by the FT, a user will be able to take advantage of this "digital identity" app to rent a car remotely through apps that ask to verify identity or issue an electronic key to access the administration.

Translated from: https://www.xataka.com/aplicaciones/union-europea-...