Why do we need EUDI? We have good eIDs!

Summary: The initial eIDAS regulation in 2014 forced the European member states to move towards electronic identities (eID), but this resulted in fragmented approaches and differing maturity levels across them. With eIDAS 2.0 the European Commission aims to harmonize this fragmented ecosystem by introducing common, interoperable rules and a unified EUDI wallet for all European citizens.

The current eID landscape

The European electronic identity (eID) market is many things, but above all it is diverse and fragmented. When the initial eIDAS regulation was introduced in 2014, it paved the way for many EU member states to invest into the creation of some form of digital identity and launch respective eIDs for their citizens. The implementation to date varies by country, which resulted in a diverse landscape where:

• Some countries have had eID systems even prior to 2014, often driven by private initiatives such as BankID in Sweden

• Private and public sector initiatives can be found in many countries

• A few countries mainly focused on creating a digitally readable version of their identity documents - sometimes topped with some login gateway, often to public sector institutions (BundID, ID-porten)

• Some innovative countries started embracing digital identities by providing wallets to its citizens (e.g. the polish mObywatel)

What is really fascinating to see is how the user's choice determined the failure or success of an eID solution. In Italy or Norway - as an example - the public sector initiatives could hardly compete with existing, private solutions that users preferred. A valuable insight when trying to determine the failure or success of the future European digital identity (EUDI) wallet.

So why do we need an EUDI wallet after all?

This fragmentation of solutions and approaches leads to the fact that many of the eID solutions are mostly not interoperable. They often only function within the same country, but hardly ever across EU countries.

Another big difference is the fact that the current eID solutions often work one-directionally only: identities are issued by a public or private institution to the user. In hardly any case can someone but the identity issuer issue credentials to the users. That will fundamentally change with EUDI, where an open wallet ecosystem is created for any certified issuers to issue credentials of various kinds into the wallets. That change will be a huge enabler for adoption, as users will be redirected back to their EUDI wallet as use cases and (private sector) credential issuance will pick up. In this context, you can see the EUDI wallet as a wallet, in which all kinds of identity credentials are stored, such as government identities, health certificates, mobile driving licenses, membership credentials etc.

What is the role of eIDs within the EUDI framework?

The current eID solutions will not go away. They will be an integral piece to the issuance of governmental documents into the EUDI wallet. This will ensure authenticity of the wallet user as well as establish trust within the ecosystem. Some issuers, for example, may only consider issuance into the EUDI wallet if that same wallet also holds the PID, the digital equivalent to the government issued ID card. This way, they can be sure that the wallet user verified their identity through the eID procedure, thereby establishing trust.

In addition, many users have become used to the eID functionalities and may not see value in switching to the EUDI wallet after all. BankID works perfectly fine across many public and private sector uses cases. Here the EUDI wallet will find it hard to compete. Adoption of the EUDI wallet could then be accelerated by extending current eID Wallet solutions to become EUDI wallets with no visible switch for the end user. Some users may also start using the EUDI wallet more as more issuance starts to take place into the EUDI wallet and the benefits will become visible.

This transition will also be very different for every country, given the fragmented eID landscape and wallet maturity levels.

Conclusion

The EUDI wallet will bring a lot of standardization and harmonization across the EU and also open the wallet market for other players while enabling users choice. Issuance into these wallets in a common way may be the game changer that could drive adoption from existing eID solutions to the use of the EUDI wallet. Some countries are working on upgrading their existing digital identity wallet to EUDI-compliance, which could enable faster adoption as users will not need to get re-accustomed.

The role of etonec

etonec helps organizations navigate this evolving landscape—turning regulatory complexity into workable strategy.

What we do:

• Assessment – Understanding how EUDI and eIDAS 2.0 impact your operations and compliance roadmap

• Design – Crafting solutions that align regulation, technology, and user experience

• Integration – Connecting your systems with trusted wallet providers

We think digital trust is a public good. We're here to help build it. Reach out if you want to talk