BRUSSELS, Belgium—The European Union (EU) is advancing plans to launch a post-pandemic bloc-wide digital wallet that is designed to provide consumers with a seamless way to digitally access public and private services.
EU member states have been asking for a secure online method citizens could use to easily tap services, the Financial Times said.
The digital wallet is intended to be “simple, secure and it will protect people online,” a source told the Financial Times. “People will also have the power to decide how much information they give out while Google and others don’t let you decide what you’re giving away.”
Citizens of the 27 EU countries would be able to use the digital wallet to store passwords and log in to government services. The wallet also could be used to pay everyday bills, but would not be mandatory, sources told the Financial Times.
The app would be accessed using a person’s fingerprints, retina, or another secure way, and would be a personal vault for the storage of personal documents such as a driver’s license. EU officials are planning a structural separation that would stop corporations from being able to gain access to anyone’s data and use it for marketing purposes.