The European Union’s future digital wallet is taking shape. After it was approved this year, our target was set for 2026. the date by which all member states must accept this use European Digital ID. A future application that will unify all official procedures, from our personal documents to passport, payments, driver’s license, doctor’s appointments and even plane tickets. A large unified platform, supported by the European Union, to digitize all these processes, which now remain independently in the hands of private companies.

Spain also plays an active role. These days, the General Assembly of the ‘European Wallet Consortium’ (EWC), one of the four consortia selected by the European Commission for the development of this digital wallet, was held in Madrid. In particular, the EWC is responsible for development. How will future Digital ID be applied to travel and traveler control?

To find out all the details, we talked to the coordinators of the meeting held in Spain, SICPA Spain Business Development Director Fabián Torres.

“We are now in the first wave of pilot projects. One of them is the EUDI Wallet Consortium, in which we are involved together with Segittur and other Spanish organizations. We are talking about 27 member countries, 41 strategic partners and another 35 associate members. More than 70 organizations. Our tests are examining all aspects of the cross-border travel experience and focuses on maximum breadth development,” explains Torres.

“The entire technical-legal framework has already been approvedIt refers, on the one hand, to eIDAS 2.o, and on the other hand, to the ‘Architecture and Reference Framework’ (ARF), the technical specification guides to which these projects must comply.

After the European Commission defined what the future European Digital Identity should look like, different organizations started working.

In addition to the EWC for mobility and payments, which Spain participates in through SIPCA, we have the Potential for access to public services; NOBID for payments and bank accounts and DC4EU for training and certifications. Four large consortia consisting of dozens of companies working in parallel on different applications that will form the European Digital Identity.

The digital wallet developed by EWC will allow the collection of every citizen’s documents in one place. we are talking about something Replaces DNI but not onlyIt is also an application where you can find everything from your driver’s license to your passport or European health card.

We’re reinventing the way we travel

“This large-scale pilot project of Digital Wallet aims to improve the travel experience. It also enhances the entire pre-travel activity. From preparation to bookings, flight ticket, ferry ticket, museum, hotel management… “Anything that could constitute a professional or leisure trip,” defines Torres. “With the guarantee of having it in a wallet that is unlike the wallets we usually have, where we don’t know what will happen to our data.”

If we currently use Google Wallet, Bookings or airlines’ apps to manage all this data, our goal in two years is to be able to access all of this from the same place through this digital wallet.

“From a completely centralized model in the hands of a few people, All identification information will be in our pocket“explains Torres. As announced by the Commission, different consortia are working on open source projects where security information will be directly on every citizen’s device.

“Let’s say a person who is over 18 years old wants to go drinking alcohol. Nowadays you have to show your ID or passport. The ID is in the hands of a third party, who will be able to do that as well as knowing that I am older than I am. See my name and where I live. This is something that is not relevant for future application quantity is information. I can prove that I am over 18 years of age without having to provide any other documents“says Torres, referring to the fact that the future wallet aims to be an example of what is known as zero-knowledge proof.

To create this digital wallet, SIPCA partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for a separate test last year. ‘Identity Management in Distribution’ application was demonstrated, On British Airways flight from Heathrow in London to Fiumicino in Rome. Attendees were then offered a platform to purchase the ticket until check-in, passing biometric authentication and logging in for the equivalent of a digital passport.

As the Spanish developers explain: “the digital certificate is saved in the traveler’s digital wallet and can be provided to third-party verifiers to provide access to different types of services (e.g. flight reservations, boarding passes, etc.). For privacy purposes, travelers can only use certain digital passport details as required can reveal and compare selectively.”

It has not yet been confirmed that the digital wallet proposed by the EWC will be the wallet implemented by the European Union for travel, but there is a huge field study behind it that suggests it will be used.

Digital Identity is the big European project of the coming years

“A new wave of pilot programs has now emerged. We are preparing new consortiums for a new project.” The second phase will start this November” explains Torres. The European Commission’s plan is to continue testing to focus more on the final prototype, which should be ready before 2026.

“The change will be gradual. But there are some date commitments and once that is in place, all States will automatically be asked to ensure that if someone presents a digital identity document, different government bodies can use it. Citizens won’t have to make a dramatic leapbut we understand that States will be prepared to respond in this way,” he explains.

“Our biggest advantage is that we are ahead in this match. We are on the same starting line as all European countries. Spain also has a very relevant position on the issue,” says Torres. The creation of a European digital wallet is a multi-year project being worked on at all levels. It is a pioneering project worldwide. “We have the opportunity to put Spain at the top technologically. With almost no European technology companies in the main ranking, it is a country we have difficulty reaching from Europe. They’re looking very closely at this European wallet from the United States“.

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