Parliament wants gov't to take DigiD away from Solvinity before U.S. takeover happens

The Tweede Kamer urgently appealed to the Cabinet to refrain from extending the DigiD contract with Solvinity due to the risk of the software company falling into American hands. A majority supported a PRO proposal to terminate the contract and ensure that DigiD remains in the Netherlands, NOS reports.

Solvinity manages the digital platform on which the government runs DigiD, the digital ID with which millions of Dutch people file their tax returns, make their doctor appointments, and pay their health insurance and municipal bills, among many other things. The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, would prefer that Solvinity not be purchased by the American company Kyndryl at all. But if that cannot be stopped, DigiD must be taken away from Solvinity.

The DigiD contract with Solvinity is set to run until 2028, but a briefing in January revealed that the government would decide this year whether the contract would indeed be extended until 2028. That means that the choice to terminate the contract is also an option. MP Barbara Kathmann of PRO, formerly GroenLinks-PvdA, told NOS. “If you want it to stop in August, you have to indicate that by May 6.”

There are major concerns in the Tweede Kamer about the possible takeover. Experts have pointed out that the United States could block or shut down DigiD if the platform running it was in American hands. A parliamentary majority already urged the government to make every effort to prevent this takeover.

Prominent privacy official Pieter van Oordt spoke to the Volkskrant last week, warning that the situation could be far worse than the U.S. government blocking access to DigiD. If the takeover happens, the U.S. government would have access to the personal data of virtually all Dutch citizens, he told the newspaper. Van Oordt said that he went public with this warning because he was unable to get a conversation with the State Secretary of Home Affairs.

“A whistleblower has come forward. That takes a great deal of courage,” Kathmann told NOS. His information sheds new light on the matter, and politicians should make the decision to remove DigiD’s management from Solvinity as soon as possible, the MP said.

At this stage, the Cabinet sees no grounds to block the American takeover. The Investment Assessment Office (BTI) is currently still investigating the risks to national security associated with the intended takeover. State Secretary Eric van der Burg of Home Affairs told parliament that he intended to await the results of that investigation before taking further steps.