(Paris) The opposition, on the left and the National Rally (RN), but also the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), raised their voices on Monday after the revelation by the press of privileged exchanges between Uber and Emmanuel Macron when he was at Bercy, now summoning the president to explain himself.
The left-wing alliance Nupes wants a parliamentary commission of inquiry, while the RN asks for a “resale right” from a previous commission on the Alstom affair, after information from the “Uber Files”, an investigation based on thousands internal Uber documents sent by an anonymous source to the British daily The Guardian and forwarded to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and 42 media partners.
In this context, The world looked at the links between American society and Emmanuel Macron when he was Minister of the Economy (2014-2016). The newspaper concludes that there is a secret “deal” between Uber and Emmanuel Macron in Bercy.
“There has never been, at the level of the Élysée, the knowledge of the slightest deal. If it happened, the Elysée was not aware, “commented Monday evening the former president François Hollande in Release.
“It is very serious, the idea that Mr. Macron has, in this secret pact with a company, deregulated the regulations on taxis”, had accused in the morning the deputy LFI Alexis Corbière.
“The president or whoever wants to be president cannot be a lobbyist in the service of private interests and a North American company”, continued the Insoumis, judging that “it is the least of things” that the president speaks about these revelations.
He mentions the possibility of “a commission of inquiry” and the deputies of Nupes will table a motion for a resolution to this effect.
Considering that Emmanuel Macron acted “like a real lobbyist”, the leader of the Communists Fabien Roussel also believes that “it raises the question of how we can question an active President of the Republic”, he said. during a press conference. The Constitution does not allow it today, but his party proposes to “amend it for that”.
As in the Senate, his group will also table “a text of law in the Assembly aimed at framing and guaranteeing social rights for each worker” platforms like Uber, he said.
“Uber Scandal”
RN deputy Sébastien Chenu also denounced at a press conference “the first scandal of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term”.
According to his colleague Jean-Philippe Tanguy, the elected RNs are asking for “a resale right” on the Alstom affair which had been the subject of a parliamentary commission of inquiry chaired by Olivier Marleix (Les Républicains), the latter having seized justice in 2019.
They are “not against” a commission of inquiry on Uber but for Mr. Tanguy, it “probably does not make much sense to redo a commission of inquiry since the essential elements of the investigative inquiry and testimonies were made by the Marleix commission between 2017 and 2018”.
“A fact-finding mission could highlight these elements and bring them up to date,” added Mr. Tanguy.
“Totally in his role”
“The minimum is that he explains what he did and how he contributed to not only ensuring that Uber set up in France, but, thanks to a law called the Macron law , unravel part of the labor code to promote this type of activity, and in particular the social consequences for employees, ”lamented the secretary general of the CGT Philippe Martinez.
“It is not news that Uber is at this point in a logic of lobbying to deregulate”, relativized on the other hand the boss of the CFDT Laurent Berger.
The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire judged that Emmanuel Macron “was totally in his role as Minister of the Economy by having contacts with the president of Uber and by seeking to open the market for online platforms” , which at the time were part of the “new buoyant markets”, he said on the sidelines of the “Choose France” summit in Versailles.
One of the responsibilities of a Minister of the Economy, “is to ensure that there is competition on a certain number of markets so that our compatriots can pay less for a certain number of services”, he insisted.
The boss of the LREM deputies Aurore Bergé also brushed aside these criticisms, deeming “great a country which is offended that a Minister of the Economy receives business leaders in a completely public way in a debate which was a parliamentary debate ” .
“There is no deal, there is no consideration, there is a minister who has received great business leaders and that’s normal,” she added.
