Which EU countries plan to make digital ID use mandatory versus voluntary after eIDAS 2.0 implementation?
Executive summary
The eIDAS 2.0 regulation requires every EU Member State to make at least one European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet available to citizens by the end of 2026, and it compels certain classes of service providers to accept the wallet for defined use cases from 2027; however, the use of the wallet by individuals is expressly framed as voluntary under the final text and in authoritative analyses [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What the law actually mandates: wallets, issuance deadlines and mandatory acceptance
Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 forces Member States to provide an EUDI Wallet (technical rules and implementing acts set the details), with a legal timetable that effectively requires wallets to be available by December 2026 and acceptance by specified high‑value service providers from 2027; the law therefore mandates states to supply wallets and mandates acceptance by certain providers for defined authentication use cases [1] [2] [5] [6].
2. Voluntariness for individuals is embedded in the final compromise
The co‑legislators and multiple legal summaries underline that the wallet must remain voluntary and free of charge for individuals and businesses, and that other means of access to public and private services must remain possible — the final text and parliamentary briefing explicitly enshrine voluntariness of use [3] [4] [7].
3. So who will be forced to use it — and who will be forced to accept it?
The regulation draws a distinction: Member States are obliged to offer at least one certified wallet (an obligation on states), and very large online platforms plus specified regulated services (banks, telecom operators and other high‑value service providers) are required to accept the EUDI Wallet as an authentication method when users choose it — meaning acceptance is mandatory for those providers in defined cases, but user uptake remains a choice [1] [6].
4. National mandates to make citizens use the wallet: not found in the sources reviewed
Across the government, industry and NGO analyses consulted here there is no documented evidence that any Member State has announced plans to make personal use of the EUDI Wallet compulsory for citizens; authoritative reporting and legal summaries repeatedly emphasize the EU‑level guarantee of voluntariness rather than any permitted Member State power to force individual uptake [3] [4] [8].
5. Where ambiguity and friction will arise: enforcement, scope and national differences
Even with voluntariness for individuals, tensions remain: the regulation’s requirement that certain providers accept wallets sets up uneven incentives (some sectors face mandatory acceptance, others do not), and implementation complexity — including national infrastructure readiness, certification of trust service providers and supervisory practices — will create uneven experiences across Member States and sectors [1] [9] [10].
6. Critics, safeguards and political fault lines
Civil‑society critics and technical commentators warn that the architecture, toolbox and supervisory arrangements may underdeliver on safeguards like non‑discrimination and user control, and point to risks where national regulators historically have varied in enforcement; those concerns feed worries that, in practice, market and regulatory pressures might make wallets de facto mandatory in some contexts even if formally voluntary [11] [12].
7. Bottom line and reporting limitation
The regulatory bottom line is clear in the texts and major explainers: Member States must provide certified EUDI Wallets and certain service providers must accept them for specified uses, while individual use remains voluntary under the final regulation; however, the sources reviewed do not provide any country‑by‑country list of governments planning to legally compel citizens to use the wallet, and therefore no authoritative claim about specific Member States making use mandatory can be substantiated from this reporting [2] [3] [4].