Regions and cities urge user-friendly European Business Wallets for SMEs and entrepreneurs

Digital transformation is a key driver of European competitiveness and a cornerstone for economic productivity. However, excessive regulatory burdens remain a major challenge for European businesses, particularly SMEs and self-employed entrepreneurs.To address this, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an opinion on European Business Wallets during the plenary session on 1 July, stressing that they must be designed as user-friendly and cost-effective solutions to support business growth across regions.

In the opinion, CoR members welcome the European Business Wallets, which establish a unique digital identity for a business and provide them with a single channel of correspondence with governments across the EU, as an important element of the EU’s future digital architecture. At the same time, they stressed that digitalisation must go hand in hand with genuine simplification and should avoid creating new layers of complexity or duplicating existing mechanisms. Members emphasised that SMEs, microenterprises, start-ups and scale-ups must be at the centre of the initiative. They called for the wallet to be user-friendly, affordable and based on the once-only principle, enabling businesses to reuse data already submitted to public authorities. They also urged the Commission and Member States to provide clear guidance and awareness-raising activities to ensure widespread uptake among businesses.

The CoR reiterated its support for a secure and interoperable European digital identity framework and called for a consistent rollout of digital wallets across Member States. Interoperability with existing EU digital tools, including the Single Digital Gateway and the Once-Only Technical System, will be essential to ensure seamless cross-border use. The opinion underlines the crucial role of local and regional authorities in delivering digital public services and implementing many of the procedures that will be covered by European Business Wallets. Local and regional leaders called for adequate funding, technical assistance, capacity-building measures and sufficient transition periods to help authorities meet their obligations securely and efficiently. Particular attention should be paid to cybersecurity, with stronger cooperation and support at all levels of government.

In addition, CoR members stressed that strengthening the Single Market through digital tools must go hand in hand with the EU’s cohesion objectives, ensuring that all regions can benefit from digital transformation. They called on the Commission to fully respect the principle of subsidiarity and provide dedicated support through EU and national funding programmes so that local and regional authorities can successfully implement the new framework. With the right safeguards, support and simplification measures, European Business Wallets can significantly reduce administrative burdens, improve public administration and strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.

Quote

Rapporteur Branislav Zacharides (SK/ECR), Mayor of Vrútky: "The European Business Wallets are a highly promising tool to streamline operations for businesses, helping them save time and money. It will be a key piece of digital infrastructure, future-proofing EU business operations and helping companies expand across borders in the Single Market. While it is important that all public authorities provide the core functionalities of the Business Wallets, small local authorities should be supported and allowed more time for implementation."

Background

• Video and photos of the debate.
• The European Business Wallets are one of the key deliverables of the Digital Package of the European Commission, published on 19 November 2025. The Commission proposes a regulation to establish those Wallets as a harmonised digital solution to ease the administrative burden and to enable companies and public sector bodies to identify, to authenticate and to exchange data in a secure and user-friendly way, with full legal effect across the European Union.

Contact

Theresa Sostmann
Tel: +32475999415
Theresa.Sostmann@cor.europa.eu