Digital Inclusion and Trusted Assistance for EUDI

Establishing a formal, trusted assistance model to ensure that all European Union citizens can participate securely in an increasingly digital society is essential. Despite the convenience of digital transformation, a significant portion of the population faces exclusion due to limited digital skills, device access, or other barriers like disability. One solution is by leveraging the upcoming European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet and the expanded eIDAS 2 framework to create a "Qualified Assistance Provider" model, which would enable trained, audited staff to help citizens perform secure digital transactions on their behalf. This structure aims to address the structural inequity arising from essential services moving online and suggests funding local assistance hubs, such as libraries and NGOs, to offer these auditable and legally equivalent assisted interactions. By explicitly designing for permanent assistance to ensure resilience and universal inclusion in a fully digital EU, the future of each and every EU citizen is recognised equally.