Nordic-Baltic Ministers Adopt Joint Declaration for EUDI Wallet Certification

The ministers for digitalization from the Nordic and Baltic countries have adopted a joint ministerial declaration to collaborate on the implementation of the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet.

The declaration, adopted at the MR-DIGITAL meeting in Tampere, Finland, commits the participating nations to “jointly develop a joint Nordic-Baltic certification system” for digital wallets.

Preempting EU Fragmentation

This move is a direct and proactive response to the EU’s eIDAS2 regulation, which requires all 27 member states to provide at least one certified EUDI Wallet to their citizens by December 2026. While eIDAS2 provides the legal framework, it risks creating 27 technically compliant but practically non-interoperable wallet ecosystems.

The Nordic-Baltic declaration aims to solve this fragmentation problem head-on. By creating a single, harmonized certification scheme, the bloc is essentially building a “roaming agreement” for digital identity. This joint scheme will “guarantee that digital wallets are secure and protect users’ privacy” while ensuring they function seamlessly across national borders.

A key obstacle identified in the declaration is “identity matching”—the challenge of a system in one country trusting a digital identity assertion from another country’s wallet, which must be linked back to different national population registers.

Setting the EU Standard

Finland’s Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Anna-Kaisa Ikonen, noted that “Joint work on certifications will also make the adoption of digital identity wallets smoother and is a concrete example of Nordic cooperation.”

This Nordic-Baltic certification scheme is poised to become the de facto “gold standard” for the EUDI Wallet. As the first regional bloc to define a clear, harmonized set of requirements, they are effectively setting the technical standard that private wallet providers and technology vendors will likely build to, creating a network effect that could influence interoperability across the entire EU.

The initiative builds on significant EU digital identity momentum, including Germany’s EUDI Wallet competition, the WE BUILD consortium’s large-scale pilot selection, and ongoing work on payment integration specifications. The Nordic-Baltic eID Project (NOBID) has been exploring pan-European payments pilots, with biometrics companies like iProov participating in multi-country consortiums.

Sources: Nordic Council of Ministers, Finnish Government

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By Cass Kennedy