Imagine using an EU-wide app to pay your bills, to access your local government services or to upload a medical file or a driving licence. You would log in with a unique, life-long ID number. To some, this might sound convenient – much like travelling smoothly across borders with a digital Covid-19 certificate. To others, it's the stuff of Orwellian nightmares – a step towards mass surveillance and control. Either way, plans for an EU digital identity are coalescing, with a "common toolbox" expected this September. We debate the issues at stake with two MEPs.
Produced by Sophie Samaille, Perrine Desplats, Georgina Robertson and Isabelle Romero
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