„Many see this as a European challenge. We at the Nordic Council of Ministers see it as a Nordic-Baltic opportunity. An opportunity to set the standards and lead the way, instead of just being compliant. Why? Because we know this matters a great deal to our citizens”, says Karen Ellemann, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Challenges ahead
As was lifted by representatives of Nordic and Baltic authorities and companies at the NOBID seminar 2026, the road to a joint system for digital services in the EU isn’t entirely straightforward.
For example, the countries need to be able to share enough data in a secure manner to identify citizens. This is called identity matching (IdM). There must also be a certification scheme in place to guarantee that the technical solutions for the digital wallets are safe and reliable. In addition, technical and regulatory developments are happening simultaneously, meaning the goals are moving targets.
The good news is that the Nordic and Baltic ministers of digitalization have said: “Let’s get this done!”. One concrete example of this political will is the Nordic Council of Ministers’ funding of the Nordic Baltic eID Project (NOBID), which is working with both certification schemes and identity matching.
„The main goal of the NOBID project is to make it possible for citizens in the region to use their eID from their home country to access digital services in another country in the region. Identity matching is central for this. It’s relevant for all citizens who, for example, have worked abroad and need to access their pension in that country”, says Nils Inge Brurberg, NOBID project manager at the Norwegian Digitalization Authority.
The NOBID work is in line with the declaration from the Nordic and Baltic ministers of digitalization, stating that they are “committed to ensuring that our region maintains its position as a leader in public sector digitalisation, and that the region becomes the most digitally integrated in the world by 2030.”
