The EU is working on a major project that is intended to significantly simplify everyday life for millions of people: a Europe-wide social security pass.
The European Commission is planning a so-called European Social Security Pass (European social security card, ESSPASS). The aim is to provide social security certificates digitally, uniformly and forgery-proof across the EU in the future.
The planned common social security pass could be a real one Milestone for digital administration in Europe become. If implemented successfully, it would make traveling, working and living within the EU much easier.
No more paper chaos for millions of citizens
Anyone who works, studies or uses medical services in another EU country today knows the problem:
- different procedures
- Paper documents
- long waiting times at authorities
Cross-border commuters, posted workers and companies with international operations are particularly affected. This is exactly where the new EU passport should come into play.
In the future, important evidence such as the A1 document (responsible for social security for postings) or the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) could be accessed digitally and verified in real time.
Currently, many of these documents are only available as PDFs or plastic cards and do not come with standardized online verification. This makes them vulnerable to errors and fraud.
Digital wallet as storage
The core of the plans is an interoperable EU solution based on the European digital identity (EUDI wallet) based. Citizens should be able to store their social security rights securely on their smartphone and show them when necessary, for example to the doctor, the authorities or their employer abroad.
Important: Nobody should be forced to use it. Physical alternatives should remain possible in the future, such as printed documents with digital checking functions. The EU wants to ensure that even people without smartphones are not left behind.
The Commission estimates that millions of people in the EU would benefit from the new passport:
- Around 14 million EU citizens live or work in another member state.
- In 2023 alone, 5.5 million A1 certificates were issued (usually as a PDF)
- Around 253 million people have a European health insurance card (mostly plastic card without online function)
The digital passport will make applications faster, data will only have to be entered once and authorities will use the same standards across the EU. Companies could noticeably reduce bureaucracy by sending employees abroad.
The EU passport also has advantages for states and authorities: automatic checks should make it possible to immediately determine the authenticity, validity and integrity of documents. This not only reduces administrative costs, but also makes misuse of social benefits more difficult.
Nothing has been finally decided yet. The social security passport is undergoing impact assessment and a public consultation is ongoing. The EU Commission plans to present a specific proposal for a regulation in the third quarter of 2026.
The German social insurance providers, including the German Pension Insurance Federation and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, recently announced in one Position paper emphasizes that they see great opportunities in the development and introduction of ESSPASS.
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