“Digital services of the European Union member states must be made available to all citizens of the EU” says the Minister of Entrepreneurship and IT Andres Sutt (Reform). Sutt made his comments at a time when the Union has rolled out a timetable for greater and more integrated pan-EU digital services, including digital wallets.
Speaking at a meeting of EU telecommunications ministers in Luxembourg, Sutt said that:
“Digitization is not a goal in itself; it creates practical solutions and added value from which our businesses and citizens will benefit. (…) Estonian citizens should be able to access the same e-services which are available to Belgian nationals and vice versa. The e-ID solutions and services created by member states should be available across borders.”
This week the European Commission presented a framework for trusted and secure digital identity for all European citizens.
The framework also aims to provide a digital wallet for member states’ citizens and businesses. It enable to link the digital IDs to other identification and to transit from paper documents to digital ones.
This digital wallet would build on digital ID issued by member states. It means that Estonia’s and other states’ ID cards or e-ID solutions would not be replaced but rather all member states would be subject to an obligation to make reliable digital IDs available to their citizens.
Andres Sutt said that Europe needs to be more ambitious in this area. Moreover, he pledged support for the so-called European Digital Compass. It would establish milestones for assessing progress towards the objectives of Europe’s Digital Decade in four key areas set out by the European Commission: digital skills, safe and functional digital infrastructure, the digitization of entrepreneurship, and public services.
The article was originally published at: https://news.err.ee/1608237111/it-minister-eu-digital-services-should-be-available-equally-across-union
Continue exploring:
Estonian Ministry Wants to Promote Use of E-receipts in Private Sector
