The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union earlier this week launched talks on a draft law to establish a single European framework for digital identity, and the EP's negotiating team is headed by Croatian MEP Romana Jerkovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Safe identification services under this proposal will enable citizens and businesses to use digital tools for different purposes, such as the online payment of bills, purchases or access to medical records. The law on European digital identity will expedite the digitalisation of the public sector and society and enable safe and transparent electronic identification across the EU. The main purpose of this law is to make life easier for EU citizens by enabling them to access private and public sector services more easily and to exercise their rights in their own country or during travel and stay in other EU member states, said Jerkovic.

On 7 June 2021, the European Commission proposed a European framework for digital identity, to be accessible to all EU citizens and European companies. With the help of an advanced application, the so-called digital wallet, citizens will be able to prove their identity and share electronic documents with a click on their mobile phone screen. With the help of national digital identification, which will be recognised across Europe, they will be able to access public sector services and online services, and large platforms will have to accept the use of the European wallet for digital identity if the user requests it, for example, to prove their age. Using the digital wallet for digital identity will not replace the possibility of using paper documents, Jerkovic said.

Talks between the Council and the EP on the proposal started on Tuesday, with the EP team led by Jerkovic, whose report was approved at a plenary session of the EP, held in March in Strasbourg, her office said.