About four months after the general, national election in Germany took place in September 2017, the three political parties CDU (Christian-Democratic Union), CSU (Christian-Social Union), and SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) have set out their coalition agreement for the next grand coalition. The agreement highlights the importance of a digital Europe and paves the way for a citizen-centric implementation of the once-only principle.  

Titled "A new awakening for Europe, A new momentum for Germany, A new level of solidarity for our country" the agreement states that the new coalition wants to strenghten the trust of citizens in its ability to act and bring on change by focusing on innovation and solidarity.  

Specifically, the agreement focuses on strengthing and extending the use of the digital German ID. The political alliance also wants to make the sharing and the re-usage of data between public administrations possible, by initiating an opt-in solution which gives citizens the right to consent to any data sharing between public administrations. This way citizens are permanently in control of their own personal data and can gain insights into who can access and share their data through a citizens' portal. The new grand coalition also wants to modernize the German public registries and will take the recommendations of the German National Regulatory Control Council (NKR) into consideration. 

The new coalition will also fully support the Digital Single Market across European borders and will strengthen the collaboration between the EU and Germany on all digital matters. 

For more information: 

• Coalition agreement CDU/CSU/SPD February 7th, 2018 (in German)
• News on coalition agreement from Deutsche Welle (in English) 
• SCOOP4C news on German National Regulatory Control Council (NKR) from October 9th, 2017