A key idea behind all of this is to sell "qualified certificates". Which is another way of saying "expensive certificates".
In the past, CAs sold EV certificates which gave you a nice green look in the browser bar and no security advantage (arguably security downsides, because you cannot automate it). That was good business, until browsers decided that this makes no sense and scraped any special treatment for EV certificates.
The "qualified certificates" by the EU are essentially EV with a new name.
In the past, CAs sold EV certificates which gave you a nice green look in the browser bar and no security advantage (arguably security downsides, because you cannot automate it). That was good business, until browsers decided that this makes no sense and scraped any special treatment for EV certificates.
The "qualified certificates" by the EU are essentially EV with a new name.