The French parliament (Assemblée Nationale) has voted for a new €20 million project 242-95 to establish a biometric version of citizens’ health cards (Carte Vitale).

Oddly the money for the idea comes from the French package of financial aid for the cost-of-living crisis, the project would see the creation of a biometric Carte Vitale featuring a chip containing the physical characteristics of the insured, such as fingerprints.

The cards will be linked to the patient’s bank account, the biometric card would then help healthcare providers identify individuals while also helping the government fight against fraudsters.  Apparently this is a big issue in France where there are seven million more national insurance collectors than there are inhabitants. 

A similar project was proposed and rejected by the French parliament two years ago. It was now made a “condition” of support by right-wing senators for the financial aid package, according to Libération.

However, the opposition claims the implementation of the tool would be expensive and time-consuming for the government, as it would involve the replacement of roughly 65 million cards nationwide, the purchase of biometric scanners, and biometric fingerprint capture of all card owners.

Some left-wing politicians are worried that the project would inevitably require the establishment of a centralised biometric database, which if not properly secured may constitute an alluring target to cybercriminals.

But other politicians clearly want to see it as an over all package to deal with the French hobby of rioting. The mayor of Nice called for the deployment of facial recognition technologies following clashes at the Stade de France. In May, France pushed the EU Council to formalize the extension of the police biometrics data-sharing network.

According to Sen. LR Philippe Mouiller, the scheme could be launched in the autumn, but there is no information on a deadline on how the project would happen.