Last week, the European Parliament in Strasbourg approved the European Digital Identity with the favorable votes of the popular and socialist parties, while facing opposition from the ECR and ID (it passed with 335 votes in favor, 190 against, and 11 abstentions). VOX voted in favor of the amendment rejecting the entire proposal and against the text.
Although its implementation is currently presented as “non-mandatory,” it appears to be a mechanism to compel Europeans into a pervasive digital system that will influence access to jobs, education, healthcare services, financing, housing, etc. Storing personal data in the “cloud” raises concerns about security risks on servers possibly located in foreign territories.
“The Commission will propose a secure European electronic identity. An identity we trust and that every citizen can use anywhere in Europe for any type of operation, from paying taxes to renting a bicycle,” stated Ursula von der Leyen in 2020.
Jorge Buxadé, head of the VOX delegation in the European Parliament, reiterated that VOX voted against the European Digital Identity, “as we have voted against any other regulations that aim to restrict individual freedom.” He expressed “hope” for a change in direction after the elections on June 9, anticipating a shift towards “freedom,” “national sovereignty,” and “greater influence of patriotic, identity-based, and conservative parties.”
Additionally, Dutch ECR MEP Rob Roos has criticized in Poland that the European Digital Identity and digital currency are “tools” for extensive surveillance and control over the population, stating, “We are heading towards what I call a new type of communism.”
