Mandatory digital account for every German soon?
The new German government, led by CDU, CSU, and SPD, aims to accelerate the digital transformation process in the country. Currently, there are plans to make what is known as Bürgerkonto (the digital citizen account) mandatory for all citizens, in a move aimed at simplifying administrative procedures and reducing bureaucracy.
Despite technological advancements around the world, Germany still lags behind in several aspects of digitization. However, some changes have begun to emerge gradually. In April 2025, a new electronic application was launched that can be used as an alternative to the plastic driving license, and the electronic medical file was activated, allowing doctors to access patient data without the need for paper documents.
In the new government coalition agreement, the three parties confirmed that administrative services must keep pace with the life needs of citizens. From this standpoint, the future government intends to simplify procedures such as automatically sending child benefit decisions and providing electronic application forms that eliminate the need to go in person to official offices. To achieve this, it is essential to activate the Bürgerkonto and a digital identity mandatorily.
This concept is not entirely new; in 2019, what is known as Bund-ID was introduced, which is an electronic platform used to submit applications online and receive official responses in a digital mailbox. However, so far, this platform has not been uniformly adopted across all municipalities, as some administrations are still not connected to the central system, making digitization "scattered" according to the German news agency (dpa).
The Digital Services Access Act (OZG) stipulates the further development of Bund-ID into what is called Deutschland-ID. However, the government coalition has not yet clarified whether Bund-ID will remain in place or be integrated into the mandatory digital account system. It is likely that Bund-ID will first be expanded and linked to all services before a decision is made to make its use mandatory for all citizens.