Opposition MPs on Sunday denounced reports of a secret deal between French President Emmanuel Macron – when he was a minister under a socialist government – and online transport giant Uber.
The allegations stem from the latest data-driven investigation by leading international news outlets based on leaked files touted on social media as #UberFiles.
The report by French daily Le Monde, citing documents, text messages and witnesses, claims that Uber made a secret “deal” with Macron when he was economy minister between 2014 and 2016.
The Le Monde report highlights what it says aid from Macron’s ministry should help Uber solidify its position in France, such as proposing that the company present MPs with “ready-made” amendments to make their case support.
Opposition MPs have denounced what they say appears to have been close collaboration between Macron and Uber at a time when the company was trying to sidestep strict government regulation of its sector.
Contacted by AFP, Uber France confirmed the two sides had been in touch. The meetings with Macron were part of his ministerial duties, which covered the private rental sector.
The President’s Office told AFP that at the time, as Economy Minister, Macron was “of course” in touch with “many companies involved in the profound transformation of services that has taken place in those years, which has been fueled by the… Breakdown of specific administrative or regulatory locks”.
But Mathilde Panot, parliamentary leader of the far-left opposition party France Unbowed, took to Twitter to denounce what she described as “looting the country” during Macron’s tenure as minister under President Francois Hollande.
She described Macron as a “lobbyist” for a “US multinational with the aim of permanently deregulating labor law”.
– ‘Against all our rules’ –
Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel described the Le Monde story as “damning revelations about the active role played by then-minister Emmanuel Macron in promoting the development of Uber in France.
“Against all our rules, all our social rights and against workers’ rights,” he tweeted.
Communist MP Pierre Dharreville called for a parliamentary inquiry into the matter.
Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, tweeted that the revelations showed Macron’s career had “a common thread: serving private interests, often foreign ones, before national interests.”
The Uber Files investigation is based on a leak of tens of thousands of documents to Britain’s Guardian newspaper from an anonymous source and was coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
The ICIJ is working on the story with 42 media partners around the world.
#French #opposition #denounces #UberMacron #secret #deal
