Brussels, 23/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, launched a charm offensive with the European Commission on Friday 23 January. He did not succeed, however, in securing a guarantee of coordinated European action to legalise the private driver hire app in the major European cities (where it has not been well received by taxi drivers).
Several countries and European cities have banned the Uberpop app on the grounds of unfair competition. For this reason, the boss of the US start-up wanted to meet European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc and Vice-President with responsibility for the Digital Strategy Andrus Ansip. Ansip reported that the meeting had gone well and that all had agreed that it is digital that powers innovation. “We need a well-functioning Digital Single Market, without discrimination, but with respect of law”, he tweeted.
That said, nothing concrete came from this first meeting, revealed a source close to the matter. The Uber boss, it seems, suggested a paradigm shift in the way the European authorities treat the entry of this new app into the transport market: it should be seen in the context of partnership and urban transformation. If he fails to get concerted action at European level, Kalanick is ready to negotiate his services with participating European cities, case by case, reported the European source.
The European Commission is not, in theory, against developing a larger-scale strategy with regard to the app. It is, however, trapped between a number of principles. On the one hand, the Commission wants to encourage the development of new mobility services, and acknowledges the importance of the economy of sharing (better use of resources, social interaction, less costly alternatives to services). But on the other, the member states have sole responsibility for taxi services and the Commission recommends that they fully respect the European principles of non-discrimination, proportionality and freedom of establishment. There is the potential for contradiction if Uber enters the taxi service market, which is tightly regulated but not harmonised. At the moment, it would seem that the Commission is more inclined to see how the Uber business model develops and the good practice that could appear in various European cities, the source said. (MD)