Great upheaval in perspective. During an interview granted to Le Parisien on Monday May 29, the Minister for Action and Public Accounts Gabriel Attal announced the upcoming merger of your Vitale card and your identity card “into a single secure card, as this is the case in Belgium, Portugal and Sweden”. “It is both a simplification measure and an additional guarantee on the identity of the person and the associated rights”, adds the minister to the Ile-de-France daily.

This is surprising news when the deadlines for redoing identity papers are still very long in France… On this subject, Gabriel Attal explains that he is launching “a prefiguration mission” in order to determine “the timetable and the modalities “, adding: “Obviously, this project cannot be considered until the card production times have returned to normal! An ambitious and credible schedule is needed.

This announcement also puts an end to the biometric Vitale card project, the cost of which would be too high and which would not be favored by doctors, according to the Minister of Action and Public Accounts. According to a report by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs and the General Inspectorate of Finance, consulted by Capital, “biometrics would present more difficulties than useful contributions”. Asked by the site, the entourage of Gabriel Attal also underlines a practical problem: “If you are sick, bedridden, and you ask your spouse to pick up your medication, the pharmacist will not be able to check your fingerprints” .

Farewell to the biometric Vitale card, but what will be the terms of this merger for the French? What steps will they have to take to get it? What will those who do not have an identity card do, since it is not compulsory? Here is everything we know about this new project, which already raises many questions…

The mission mentioned by GĂ©rald Darmanin should be set up by the summer of 2023, for conclusions “expected by the end of the year”, explains to Capital the Ministry of the Economy. According to the site, this mission will also have to reflect “on the complementarities of the merger of Vitale and identity cards with the deployment of the Vitale card mobile application on smartphones”. No question, in fact, of ending this project, while the identity card remains optional, unlike the Vitale card.

As you will have understood, there will still be a long way to go before you have the Vitale card merged with the identity card in your hands. According to Capital, it could in the future be issued “during an appointment to renew your identity document”. You would then have to return your Vitale card to obtain the new version, containing an electronic chip but two different compartments: civil status and social security.

What will be the advantages offered by this merger? Will the game really be worth the candle?

The first objective of this merger is, for the government, to fight against Vitale card fraud. As a reminder, models produced before 2007 do not have a photo of the insured, which facilitates its usurpation. With Le Parisien, Gabriel Attal explains that more than 2 million Vitale cards have been deactivated in five years, adding: “The challenge now is the Vitale cards used for illegal medical tourism. People coming to France and using someone else’s health card for treatment”. A fraud whose bill would amount to several million euros each year.