- Belgium’s Secretary of State for Digitization has unveiled an initiative to promote European digital sovereignty during the country’s 2024 EU Council presidency
- Mathieu Michel has a keen focus on accelerating the development of Europeum, a blockchain infrastructure for storing official documents
- The initiatives align with Belgium’s collaborative approach, seeking collective European standards to navigate the evolving digital landscape
Belgium is set to champion several digital initiatives during its presidency of the EU Council in 2024, with a strong focus on promoting digital sovereignty in Europe. Mathieu Michel, Belgium’s Secretary of State for Digitization, recently revealed four priorities, including accelerating the development of a European blockchain infrastructure named Europeum. This initiative aims to store official documents, like driving licenses and property titles, on a common government-managed blockchain.
Belgium Promotes “Europeum”
Europeum is a proposed reboot of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) project initiated by the European Commission in 2018. Michel envisions Europeum as a European project with a broader political dimension, with the new structure, called the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC), modeled on the European Research Infrastructure Consortium.
The blockchain project would facilitate public administration tasks, allowing documents to be recognized across the EU and streamlining procedures such as VAT declarations. It would also see Europeum supporting various applications, including the digital euro and digital twins of cities for assessing factors like flood risks.
Michel recently talked up the various benefits of blockchain technology, telling Science & Business, “In terms of security, transparency, and privacy, the blockchain can give control back to the citizen of the data that belongs to them.” He also emphasized the necessity of government-managed blockchains, distinguishing them from private blockchains which are often hosted outside the EU, raising privacy concerns.
European Commission Funding Sought
Belgium aims to involve member states in the Europeum project, with initial commitments of €1 million, with Michel hoping that Europeum’s EDIC structure will attract additional funding from the European Commission.
The country made headlines earlier this year when it banned Binance from operating in the country, accusing the exchange of “offering and providing exchange services in Belgium between virtual currencies and legal currencies, as well as custody wallet services, from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area.”
Binance revamped its operations in the region and, three months after the ban, the financial authorities allowed the exchange to operate once again.
