By the end of 2026, every EU member state will have to provide at least one EU Digital Identity Wallet to citizens, residents and businesses. After years of legislative negotiations and large-scale technical pilots, the project is now moving into its most expected phase.
Long a cornerstone of the EU’s digital strategy, the wallet is to become a common layer for identification across banking, telecoms, travel and public services. Identification has traditionally relied on physical documents such as ID cards or driving licences. As more services move online, the EU argues that Europe needs a secure and privacy-preserving way to identify digitally. And to do it without relying on large platforms or fragmented national systems.
The EU Digital Identity Wallet is to fill that gap. Issued by member states in the form of apps, the wallets are to allow users to identify themselves online and offline, store and share official digital documents and create legally binding electronic signatures. Each country will issue its own wallet, but all must comply with common EU specifications to ensure cross-border interoperability.
Europeans should be able to control what personal data they share, with whom and for what purpose. – Ursula von der Leyen, Commission President
Clock ticking in 2026
The political ambition behind the project was articulated by Ursula von der Leyen. In her 2020 State of the Union address, she mentioned that Europeans should be able to control what personal data they share, with whom and for what purpose, “anywhere in Europe, to do anything from paying your taxes to renting a bicycle”.
The legal basis for the wallet is now in place. The revised EU Digital Identity Framework, commonly referred to as eIDAS, was adopted in May 2024. Since then, the European Commission has been publishing batches of implementing acts translating the regulation into concrete technical and operational requirements.
You might be interested
Once the remaining acts have taken final shape, member states will have 24 months to make at least one compliant wallet available. That effectively places rollout pressure throughout 2026. A tight timeline given the need to align national population registers, certification schemes, procurement processes and private-sector systems.
What the pilots tested
Running in parallel with the legislative process, the EU launched four Large Scale Pilots (LSPs) in 2023. Together, they involved more than 350 public authorities and private companies across 26 member states, as well as Norway, Iceland and Ukraine. The project enjoys the support of around €46m in EU funding.
The pilots tested the wallet in scenarios far beyond basic login. These included opening bank accounts, registering SIM and eSIM cards, authorising payments, presenting travel credentials, using mobile driving licences, accessing education records and claiming social security benefits.
Each consortium focused on different sectors. The EU Digital Identity Wallet Consortium explored digital travel credentials and instant payments. POTENTIAL tested core authentication use cases such as e-government services, banking, e-prescriptions and mobile driving licences. NOBID focused on payment authorisation in retail contexts, while DC4EU examined education and social security credentials, including cross-border recognition.
While these four have now concluded, two other LSPs launched in 2025 to support the transition from testing to deployment. WE BUILD focuses on business identity and payment use cases. While APTITUDE targets interoperability and trust services across the emerging EUDI ecosystem.
From proof of concept to real use
After two years of testing, the pilots have produced a clearer picture of what the EUDI Wallet can, and cannot, deliver. Across the pilots, the technology is to function in real conditions, including cross-border scenarios and with real users and data. Wallets issued in one country were used to access services in another, payments were authorised using digital identity, and credentials such as driving licences and travel documents were presented outside controlled lab environments.
We proved that we can do a real payment transaction, including authentication and presenting a ferry ticket in a real life scenario using a digital identity wallet. – David Magård, coordinator of the WE BUILD consortium
According to David Magård, who coordinated the EU Digital Identity Wallet Consortium and now co-coordinates the WE BUILD consortium, the pilots deliberately moved beyond demonstrations. “We proved that we can do a real payment transaction, including authentication and presenting a ferry ticket in a real life scenario using a digital identity wallet”, he said. “We also did real check-ins at hotels in Benidorm with a wallet. So we really made the wallets come alive!”.
In parallel, POTENTIAL reported more than a thousand successful transactions. This includes several hundred cross-border cases, across government services, banking, SIM registration, mobile driving licences, electronic signatures and e-prescriptions. The tests showed that interoperability is technically achievable, but only when all parties apply the same standards rigorously.
Privacy by design (and by behaviour)?
Privacy is a central concern in the political debate around digital identity. Using real personal data, particularly in travel and accommodation scenarios, requires extensive legal checks to comply with GDPR and sector-specific rules.
While eIDAS sets a high bar for data protection on paper, pilot participants warn of unresolved risks in practice. One is behavioural rather than technical. “The ‘cookie problem’ is a real problem,” Mr Magård said. “You get asked to share a lot of data via a very extensive request, and people just accept that. The regulators need to get in there”.
Several privacy-enhancing mechanisms also remain technically immature or unevenly implemented across pilots. Challenges around selective disclosure, credential revocation, zero-knowledge proofs and secure login mechanisms such as passkeys have not been fully resolved. These gaps were manageable in pilot settings. However, they are likely to become more contentious once wallets are used for everyday transactions.
Beyond the wallet itself, trust will also be shaped by the wider regulatory environment. Ongoing EU debates on surveillance, data access and content control risk colliding with the privacy narrative underpinning the digital identity project.
2026 as a political test
With the first wave of pilots completed, the Commission has turned to ecosystem building. The two new EU-funded consortia began work in 2025, including the WE BUILD Consortium, which brings together more than 180 organisations from 30 countries.
WE BUILD focuses on business and payment use cases, aiming to enable business-to-business, business-to-government and business-to-consumer interactions at scale. The underlying challenge is a familiar one. Wallets are only useful if credentials are issued, users adopt them and relying parties, from banks and telecom operators to public authorities, integrate the system. “It’s a classic chicken-and-egg problem,” Mr Magård said. “What we really need now is credentials in circulation, users using wallets, and relying parties that have done the integration work.”
Under the regulation, member states must make wallets available by the end of 2026. While regulated sectors such as banks and public services will be required to accept them for strong authentication thereafter. Whether the EU Digital Identity Wallet becomes a widely used tool or another under-adopted digital infrastructure may ultimately depend on trust, enforcement and the willingness of governments and markets to move in step.
