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European officials under pressure over Uber links

July 11, 2022

The EU is seeking information from a former top official and Emmanuel Macron is under fire from France's opposition after a report claimed the carsharing giant lobbied politicians to relax labor and taxi laws.

https://p.dw.com/p/4DxDW
An Uber car equipped with cameras and sensors drives the streets of Washington, DC, on January 24, 2020.
Uber is accused of enlisting the help of European politicians to push its own agendaImage: Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images

The European Commission on Monday asked Neelie Kroes, the former EU digital chief, to submit more information about her alleged involvement in the Uber lobby.

Leaked files published a day earlier implied that Kroes, the former vice-president of the EU commission, helped the carsharing giant petition European politicians. 

A data-based investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists alleged that Uber had built a secret lobbying operation of policymakers and politicians to push the company's agenda. 

French opposition deputies weigh in 

French President Emmanuel Macron is also under fire after a report release by France's Le Monde daily said that Uber came to a secret "deal" with Macron during his two-year tenure as economy minister between 2014 and 2016. 

Opposition deputies have come out to decry the French president and his alleged actions. 

"[This is] against all our rules, all our social rights and against workers' rights," Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel wrote on Twitter. He said that Le Monde's report offered "damning revelations" about Macron's role in the development of Uber in France. 

President Macron's office told the AFP news agency that as former minister Macron had "naturally been in contact" with many companies that were changing the face of services in the country which should be "facilitated by unravelling certain administrative or regulatory locks."

The Uber Files investigation was assembled from thousands of leaked documents submitted by an anonymous source to Britain's Guardian newspaper. The investigation has been coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with 42 media partners around the world. 

asw/fb (AFP, Reuters)