On Wednesday 18 January in the evening, MEPs returned to the ‘Uber files’, the revelations at the heart of the summer of 2022 about the lobbying practices of the VTC platform accused of pressuring public authorities to avoid regulations and of lying about its business model.
In the presence of the Commission and the Council of the EU, MEPs also made the link to Qatargate and third countries’ attempts to exert influence.
Lobbying is not corruption, but you have to know where the limit of “legal” is, commented Italy’s Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D), rapporteur on the Directive on platform workers.
“It’s not only third countries that lobby, but also big multinationals”, added the MEP, who has seen a host of platform lobbyists in the European Parliament corridors throughout the legislative process on her report.
All these revelations confirm what we have been seeing for the last 3 years, commented Leïla Chibi (French), a member of The Left Group, Uber and the platforms are working hard “to write the law”. Lobbying is still going on and pressure continues on the negotiating teams, added the Frenchwoman.
For the EPP and Sven Simon (German), however, “not everything should be made into a scandal” or “thrown away” in light of these revelations, as lobbying is a normal activity and politicians should be able to “weigh interests in order to make policy”.
Swedish Minister Jessika Roswall, who was present at the debate, assured the audience that the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU was keeping to the EU Council’s strict transparency register and was only meeting with people and entities that were in the register. Sweden also shares Parliament’s view that workers on these platforms should be protected.
Despite the failure of discussions on 8 December in the ‘Employment and Social Affairs’ Council on the Platform Workers Directive, Sweden “wants to continue to work towards a conclusion (on this issue) before the end of the parliamentary term”. For her part, Commissioner Ylva Johansson insisted in this debate on the crucial role of the whistleblowers Directive. In addition, an OLAF investigation into these allegations concerning Uber is ongoing.
Vote on platform workers postponed
Parliament decided on 18 January to postpone several votes scheduled for 19 January, including the one on the report by Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, Italian) on digital platform workers, due to the strike movement in France against pension reform.
The number of MEPs, forced to change their returns from Strasbourg, would not have been sufficient.
90 signatures were collected earlier this week to proceed to a vote to confirm the mandate given to the Italian woman in December (see EUROPE 13083/31). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)