European Digital Identity

The EU has actually done something quite smart here: they've created a common Architecture Reference Framework (ARF) and an official open-source reference implementation, which member states can fork, adapt, or use as a blueprint.

By Jurg van Vliet

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The Open Source Landscape

1. Official EU Reference Implementation

The Commission funds an open-source reference implementation on GitHub (eu-digital-identity-wallet). It consists of open-source code libraries, modular components, and a fully functioning reference application based on the ARF. This is designed to be reusable across multiple projects.

The open-source code is based on a modular architecture composed of business-agnostic, reusable components which will evolve in incremental steps and can be reused across multiple projects.

2. OpenWallet Foundation (Linux Foundation Europe)

The OpenWallet Foundation brings developers, standards development organizations and academia together to facilitate global interoperability of verifiable credentials through collaborative development of digital wallet technology.

They host several projects including:

  • Credo (formerly Hyperledger Aries Framework JavaScript)
  • Bifold Wallet (React Native mobile wallet)
  • SD-JWT implementations
  • A React Native kit specifically for EUDI Wallet reference implementation

3. Independent European Open Source Players

walt.id (Austrian company) offers the most powerful and holistic open source identity and wallet infrastructure, with holistic open source stack via Apache 2. It's used by thousands of developers and supports eIDAS 2.0 alignment.

Procivis One (Swiss) offers production-grade open source components for EUDI Wallet certification with eIDAS 2.0 compliance, ISO 18013-5 mdocs, IETF SD-JWT VC, OID4VC, and W3C VCs.

Talao (French) provides open-source wallets already conformant with EBSI V3 standards.

Member State Coordination (The Good)

There IS significant coordination:

  1. Large Scale Pilots bring countries together:

    • NOBID is a set of Nordic and Baltic countries who, together with Italy and Germany, will pilot the use of the EU Digital Identity Wallet for authorising payments.
    • POTENTIAL covers six use cases across multiple countries
    • DC4EU focuses on education and social security
    • EWC handles travel credentials

  2. The European Digital Identity Cooperation Group (formerly eIDAS Expert Group) coordinates standards development

  3. Several Member States, including Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain, are expected to integrate common technical solutions into their national digital wallets.

The Reality Check (Some Wheel Reinventing)

Countries are at vastly different stages:

Production wallets already deployed (9 countries): Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal have digital identity wallet solutions deployed at national level.

In many cases, this rapid deployment was facilitated by building on an existing digital ID app or other public service "super app".

Different approaches:

  • Austria: Building on two existing apps (eID Austria + eAusweise), developed open-source wallet "Valera" for testing
  • Germany: Running innovation competitions with 75+ companies, publishing architecture openly
  • Italy: Building on existing IO App
  • France: Rolling out France Identité app
  • Spain: Piloting Cartera Digital Beta

Germany is the absolute front runner. They have been working not only on wallet development, but also on the EUDIW ecosystem architecture for quite a few years now, very openly communicating about their efforts.

For Your Clouds of Europe Work

This is highly relevant to your sovereignty narrative. The key tension here:

Positive sovereignty story:

  • Common European standards (OpenID4VC, SD-JWT, mDL)
  • Open source reference implementation
  • European coordination bodies
  • European companies (walt.id, Procivis, Talao) providing infrastructure

Concerns:

  • Member states still building separate apps (regulatory requirement)
  • Deadline is December 2026 for wallet availability
  • Different maturity levels across EU
  • Some reliance on non-European cloud infrastructure for deployment

The OpenWallet Foundation being under Linux Foundation Europe is particularly noteworthy for your narrative — it's a European-governed, open-source foundation specifically designed to prevent vendor lock-in and ensure interoperability.