Tallinn: When Estonians reach for their phones to prove who they are, they draw on years of digital-identity habit that the rest of Europe is only now adopting. The push to give every citizen a digital wallet has entered a decisive phase, and its success hinges on one unglamorous word: certification.
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity opened a public consultation on a draft scheme that will decide how member states test their wallets before release. The agency wants a single, high security bar, so that a wallet certified in one country carries the same trust everywhere in the Union.
The stakes are practical. Under EU law, every member state must offer at least one certified wallet to residents by the end of 2026. The app will let people identify themselves online, store official documents and share only the exact data a service needs, rather than handing over a full identity card.
Progress has lagged the ambition. Early in the year no wallet had yet been deployed or certified anywhere, and the technical specification remained a moving target. To speed matters, the agency signed a 1.6 million euro agreement with the Commission to help build national certification schemes over two years, a step it described when it advanced the certification work.
Security experts see the wallet as a rich target. A single app that unlocks banking, health records and travel documents would tempt any attacker, so the scheme leans hard on independent testing and clear rules for handling flaws once they surface.
Privacy advocates broadly welcome the design. Because the wallet shares data selectively, a bar can confirm a customer is over eighteen without learning their birth date or address. That principle, known as selective disclosure, sits at the core of the specification.
Doubts linger over the timetable. The Commission itself has voiced concern that not every capital will meet the end-of-year deadline, given how much technical work remains. The final scheme is due as an implementing act before the year closes.
The wallet is meant to travel. A driving licence issued in one country, a university diploma from another and a tax record from a third could all sit in the same app and be recognised across borders. That portability is the whole point, and it only works if every national wallet clears the same certification, which is why the agency is so insistent on a common bar.
For Estonia, none of this feels new. For the wider Union, the digital wallet marks a leap toward a shared electronic identity, provided the certification holds.
