Romania abandons its European digital identity wallet model and adopts the German solution – lower costs and shorter implementation time

3 iulie, 2026

The government decided to develop the national version of the European Digital Identity Wallet – RoEUDIW – based on the open-source solution developed by Germany, shortening the implementation timeline to meet the European deadline of around December 6, 2026, and eliminating the cost of infrastructure development from scratch.

Collaboration is already initiated, Government announces

Romania efficiently capitalizes available resources by building the project upon technical solutions and certification schemes adopted from advanced European countries with which collaboration has already been initiated, according to a Government statement.

Romania will adopt and use the German solution for the European Digital Identity Wallet, following rigorous assessment of EUDI Wallet solutions at various stages of implementation in other member states, as well as the ecosystem’s long-term development strategies, the Government further stated.

Reasons for adopting the German model:

Germany’s vision of a comprehensive EUDI Wallet ecosystem, prioritizing both innovation and user protection, reflects a commitment to European values of privacy, security, and data sovereignty, values deeply shared by Romania, and by adopting this solution, Romania reduces the duplication of effort and contributes to a collaborative ecosystem built on shared innovation.
The German solution is open-source developed, allowing Romania to benefit for free from all necessary resources – source code, certification schemes, and technical components – which it can adapt and further develop according to national needs.
This way, Romania achieves significant budgetary savings by avoiding the costs of developing complex infrastructure from scratch, while also participating in a European solidarity effort in which Member States jointly build the future of digital identity at Union level, based on shared foundations.

Romania intends to open the market to private digital wallet providers as well in the future, if they are certified under the national scheme, the statement further notes.

Advantages provided by RoEUDIW

The digital wallet will allow Romanian citizens to prove their identity and securely store electronic documents (driver’s license, university diplomas, health card, etc.).
Each user will have full control over their personal data, being able to share only the necessary attributes without disclosing additional information (for example, for age verification, one could select only the date of birth without revealing the Personal Identification Number). All personal data remains stored exclusively within the national infrastructure.
Moreover, the interoperable nature of the wallet enables Romanian citizens to prove their identity and access services in any European Union member state, thereby facilitating mobility and access to cross-border services.

Key responsibilities of the main institutions involved

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu coordinates the inter-institutional working group established within the RoEUDIW Commission, tasked with developing the legal framework and implementation capacity for the Romanian project regarding the European Digital Identity Wallet.

The Ministry of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MEDAT) acts as the supervisory authority for the EUDIW ecosystem and as the single point of contact for cross-border cooperation. MEDAT coordinates governance, including the drafting of laws, and relations with public and private players. It also ensures the technical monitoring of the implemented solutions.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) is the official provider of the mobile application (RO Wallet) and the backend infrastructure. Additionally, the MAI issues person identification data (PID) at a „high” assurance level and provides age verification attestations, hosting the solution within the MAI HUB.

The Special Telecommunications Service (STS) fulfills the following roles:

Access Certificate Authority (ACA) – issues access certificates for ecosystem participants (wallet providers, issuers and beneficiaries);
Provider of Registration Certificates – issues registration certificates to all beneficiaries registered in the register of entities providing electronic wallet services;
Registry Administrator – ensures the development, administration and maintenance of the centralized registry of Relying Parties, as well as the associated infrastructure hosted in the Government Private Cloud – the Internal Cloud component;
Attestation Scheme Provider – ensures the development, administration and updating of national certification schemes (both qualified and unqualified), and of the associated infrastructure hosted within the Government Private Cloud – the Internal Cloud component.

The development of the RoEUDIW solution and ecosystem is being carried out in stages, over several successive phases, each building on the results of the previous one. During the first phase (2026), efforts are focused on: