The consultation process, which ends in late June, reveals that EU citizens don’t like the initiative.

The executive of the European Union proposed last year the digitalization of travel documents and travel facilitation for EU citizens in compliance with a Schengen strategy adopted in 2021. The proposal, which passed the feedback phase in October 2022, is now open for public consultation – until 28 June 2023. 

In justification of this initiative, the Commission said that “by introducing digital travel documents […], the EU aims to facilitate travel across external borders, to relieve pressure and bottlenecks at border-crossing points and to shorten waiting times as well as increase the security and efficiency of border checks.”

The usage of digital travel documents (e.g. digital passports and identity cards) as well as biometric solutions also aims to facilitate the free movement for EU citizens and their families, it noted.

Citizens oppose

Whether the initiative solves the problems mentioned above remains to be seen, but an overwhelming majority of respondents who left their feedback on the EU communication portal showed a strong opposition to this plan.

The public is concerned, among others, that the digitalization could become mandatory in the future and thus leave citizens without the option of carrying a physical passport or ID, which is more convenient for some reasons – low tech literacy, for example. Respondents are worried that the government may use their data for surveillance, misuse their personal information, or breach privacy laws unintendedly. 

Many respondents fear that their governments are not efficient at preventing hacking attacks or digital frauds. The existing networks are not fully secure and should they go offline, physical passports and IDs will be required anyway, one user pointed out.

Some respondents regard the initiative as an attempt to install a digital dictatorship and limit the civil freedoms.

According to the Commission, digital credentials are intended to substitute a conventional passport or ID card temporarily or permanently with a digital representation of the traveler’s identity. Digital credentials are a proof of qualification, competence, or clearance attached to a person. Whereas the identity proves who the user is, the credential proves the user’s entitlement.

A standard for digital travel documents has been established by the International Civil Aviation Organization, as done historically for the physical ePassport document and the electronic data contained in its chip. The first version of this Digital Travel Credential is available for use now.

Part of the idea is that digital paper holders download a governmental app in their smartphones, create accounts and insert their personal information in there or let the system copy the data from their passports’ microchips.