The European Parliament and the majority of the member states reached a provisional agreement on the establishment of the “European digital ID” or “eID”—the first central and fully digital identification system for all Europeans—on Thursday, November 9th. Conservative lawmakers and cybersecurity experts are sounding the alarms, citing concerns for potential large-scale abuse.
“We are taking a fundamental step so that citizens can have a unique and secure European digital identity,” Nadia Calvino, the Spanish minister for economy and digitalization, representing the European Council’s Spanish presidency, said.
Under the new law, the EU will offer its citizens so-called ‘digital wallets’—on a voluntary basis, at first—which will contain digital versions of their ID cards, driving licenses, diplomas, medical records, and bank account information. These documents will be recognized as means to access online services throughout Europe, and citizens will be able to prove their identity or share electronic documents from their wallets “with a click of a button,” the legislators hope.
Critics, however, see the eID as the building block of a coming “European digital surveillance state”—a way for the EU and any government to hold all of their citizens’ personal information and track their every move.
The agreement was reached just days after 504 privacy and cybersecurity experts from 39 countries signed a joint letter “strongly” warning about the pitfalls of the legislation, as “it fails to properly respect the right to privacy of citizens and secure online communications.”
The researchers and academics concluded that instead of protecting personal data, the current text “substantially increases the potential for harm,” both by rogue actors and government abuse.
Naturally, the Commission does not plan to stop at eIDs. Another major plan that’s currently in the works is the “digital euro,” Europe’s future central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC), currently in early development phase by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Critics who warn about total government control of citizens’ personal finances through programmable money have long been saying that eIDs would be the first step toward an economy run on CBDCs. Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has now even confirmed this as one of the main goals of the new legislation.
“Right after this agreement, Commissioner Breton said: ‘Now that we have a digital identity wallet, we have to put something in it…” conservative Dutch MEP Rob Roos (ECR), also present at the meeting, said. “What he meant is the digital euro, also known as a CBDC.”
It is still not too late, Roos added, noting that the current agreement still needs the endorsement of the entire plenary. With enough awareness, citizens could pressure their representatives into voting against it.
If it still gets adopted—which it likely will—the only thing Europeans can do is to resist. “The only way I see how we can stop this is if we all—en masse—reject the Digital Identity,” Dutch conservative Eva Vlaardingerbroek wrote in response. “Simply do not use it. Do not comply. Do not go along. … The hour to resist much and obey little is now.”
