The Romanian government is reducing the number of electronic identity cards it had planned to distribute for free, potentially risking millions of euros in EU fines for failing to implement the digital ID project on time, according to biometricupdate.com.
The Eastern European country, however, announced last Thursday that it would be lowering the number of free e-IDs from five million to just 3.5 million after a budget cut of 21 million euros (US$24.6 million) to the project.
The cuts are being introduced in order to “secure investment” and “streamline the use of funds” amid the systemic fiscal risk that the Eastern European country is facing, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) explains in an memorandum dated August 14th. The document, which was formally adopted last Thursday, also cites low public interest in obtaining the e-ID.
The news comes just months after the government kicked off the issuance of the cărții electronice de identitate (CEI) in March, earmarking 70 million euros ($82.2 million) for issuing five million free eIDs and another 80 million euros ($93.9 million) for equipping public offices with digital tools and promoting the project.
The digital ID project is backed by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), which mandates that Romania issue five million free eIDs by the end of June 2026. The country is also due to develop and implement 11 online public services, introduce a security warning system and start an eID awareness campaign.
Since the official start of the project, however, authorities have only issued 436,674 eIDs nationwide, according to data from August.
The country is also lagging in developing government online services, which will support the use of the new eIDs. As of August, only four out of 11 had been completed, with the rest still in the “analysis and implementation” stage.
The slow pace of e-ID introduction could lead Romania to face a 264 million euro ($310.1 million) fine from the European Commission, the Ministry of Internal Affairs notes.
Follow the link to see what Romanian Government is doing to avoid the fine.
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