"Secret" pact against "all our rules", "looting of the country": left-wing elected officials strongly denounced on Sunday July 10 the links which united Emmanuel Macron and the company Uber, after press revelations.

As part of the "Uber Files", an investigation based on thousands of internal Uber documents sent by an anonymous source to the British daily The Guardian and transmitted to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and 42 media partners, Le Monde took an interest in the links between American society and Emmanuel Macron when he was Minister of the Economy (2014-2016).

Based on various testimonies and documents, including numerous SMS exchanges, Le Monde concludes that there is a secret "deal" between Uber and Emmanuel Macron in Bercy.

The daily reports meetings in the minister's office, numerous exchanges (appointments, calls or SMS) between the teams of Uber France and Emmanuel Macron or his advisers, citing in particular minutes of meetings written by the lobbyist Mark McGann.

Certain practices intended to help Uber consolidate its positions in France are pointed out, such as suggesting that the company present "turnkey" amendments to deputies.

Asked by AFP, the company Uber France confirmed the holding of meetings with Emmanuel Macron: meetings which "were under his responsibilities as Minister of the Economy and Digital supervising the VTC sector". 

Uber France also reconsiders the suspension of Uber Pop, a service in operation between February 2014 and July 2015 which allowed users to be put in touch with vehicles whose drivers were private individuals, not holders of a license. taxi or VTC.

This suspension "was in no way followed by more favorable regulations", as suggested in the idea of ​​a "deal", underlines Uber France. 

"Looting the Country"

The Elysée told AFP that Emmanuel Macron, as Minister of the Economy, was "naturally led to discuss with many companies involved in the profound change in services that has occurred over the years mentioned, which should be facilitate by unraveling certain administrative or regulatory locks". 

But the boss of the LFI deputies Mathilde Panot denounced on Twitter a "looting of the country", Emmanuel Macron having been, according to her, both "advisor and minister of François Hollande and lobbyist for a US multinational aimed at deregulating the labor law in the long term. ".

The number one of the PCF Fabien Roussel relayed "damning revelations on the active role played by Emmanuel Macron, then minister, to facilitate the development of Uber in France", "against all our rules, all our social achievements and against the rights workers".

"Uber deserves a small commission of inquiry" parliamentary, according to the communist deputy Pierre Dharréville.

Emmanuel Macron has "a pact in secret with the American giant Uber to push in the direction of deregulation" and "will have to explain himself", according to the deputy LFI Clémence Guetté.

On the other side, Jordan Bardella, president of the RN, also judged that "Emmanuel Macron's career has a consistency, a red thread: to serve private interests, often foreign, before national interests".

Questioned by AFP, the former PS deputy Thomas Thévenoud, who gave his name to the law of October 2014 delimiting more precisely the respective rights and duties of taxis and transport cars with driver (VTC), believes that Emmanuel Macron "remained a privileged interlocutor" of Uber.

He had met him on the subject in the spring of 2014 when he was deputy secretary general of the Elysée.

“He always wanted to roll out the red carpet at Uber,” he said.

The former MP and short-lived Secretary of State also wonders about the role of Elisabeth Borne, who "knows these subjects perfectly".

The head of government was Minister of Transport at the time of the mobility orientation law then Minister of Labor when social dialogue was promoted in the VTC sector - "without granting employee status to Uber drivers", points out Thomas Thévenoud.   

“Why did the government defend last year the creation of a “third status” under the guise of organizing the representation of platform workers?” asked Boris Vallaud, president of the socialist deputies, on Twitter.

"Violence guarantees success"

The investigation more broadly accuses Uber of brutal, even illegal, methods in its infancy.

"We have not justified and do not make excuses for behavior that is inconsistent with our current values ​​as a company," said Jill Hazelbaker, Uber's vice president of public affairs, in a statement. an online press release.

“We ask the public to judge us on what we have done in the past five years and what we will do in the years to come,” she added.

The survey highlights some of the methods employed during these years of rapid expansion but also of confrontation for Uber, from Paris to Johannesburg.

"The company has broken the law, deceived police and regulators, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments around the world," the Guardian said in its introduction.

The articles mention in particular messages from Travis Kalanick, then boss of the San Francisco-based company, when executives worried about the risks for the drivers whom Uber encouraged to participate in a demonstration in Paris.

"I think it's worth it," the co-founder told them.

"Violence guarantees success".

According to the Guardian, Uber has adopted similar tactics in various European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy...), mobilizing drivers and encouraging them to complain to the police when they were victims of violence, in order to to use media coverage to obtain concessions from the authorities.

"Travis Kalanick has never suggested that Uber exploits violence at the expense of driver safety," reacted Devon Spurgeon, spokesperson for the controversial former leader, in a statement published by the ICIJ, where he refutes all charges.

"Today, Uber is one of the world's largest work platforms and an integral part of the daily lives of 100 million people. We have moved from an era of confrontation to an era of collaboration, demonstrating a will to find common ground with former opponents, including unions and taxi companies", elaborates Jill Hazelbaker.

With AFP

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