Now that many countries have put an end to the lockdown, the flow of cross-border workers will return to former numbers. In this context, it is more urgent to resolve the problems relating to the univocal identification of the citizen who moves between several states. It aims at this European social security number, the project that on May 1, 2020 was selected by the European Commission among the three use cases that will be implemented within the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) network. The idea behind it is to have a common European social security number, called ESS - European Social Number - which guarantees security regardless of nationality. All using the blockchain technology.
Why blockchain technology
Taking Italy as an example, every citizen is identified in public institutions by a Fiscal Code. But as soon as you cross a border, foreign administrations cannot verify its veracity. To bridge this limit and to reduce the possibility of fraud, blockchain technology has come to the rescue, an effective means of uniquely identifying citizens among states. A secure, transparent, respectful of privacy thanks to encryption and above all advantageous because it does not involve any modification on existing IT systems and for tax codes. The project created by INPS in partnership with INAIL and ZUS, with the partnership of EY, in fact, provides for the possibility of adding a European ID to its tax code which makes it recognizable in all member states.
How does it work
As soon as the countries enter the tax code of the cross-border worker, an encrypted code is created by the blockchain system. The identification data of the citizen (name, surname, place and date of birth) will be sufficient for the foreign institution, where the user has requested a service, to trace the information connected to him and present in the various database of all states that adhere to the ESSN blockchain network.
What are the benefits?
It is an advantageous project for several reasons. In the meantime, it allows cooperation - increasingly necessary - between European states to make services more efficient, without compromising the data sovereignty of each country of origin. All states that are part of the network can in fact use the data and information present in the systems of all the other countries included in the network, without creating an additional database, and according to the same principle a real-time update of individual citizen data. Finally, the last, but not least important success: the unique code obtained with the blockchain system allows you to identify citizens precisely, avoiding fraudulent phenomena.
Compared to the current emergency, the first applications of the ESSN identification system are already being imagined for those who will have to move around Europe. It is clear that those who uniquely identify people also have the possibility of identifying a series of other types of information directly from the information systems of the country that certifies their identity. Just Spain, for example, asked to analyze the applicability of this project to the Covid health emergency.
The difficulties to be solved
The European social security number is a project that aims at security, but also at making the system easier for citizens and administrations. To do so, however, harmonization of the law of the member countries is necessary. It is therefore desirable to develop adequate legislation regulating its implementation at European level.
Giulia Cimpanelli
