Former politician Neelie Kroes (VVD) already lobbied for Uber in 2015, after she had stopped as European Commissioner for digital affairs only a few months ago. That is against the agreements made at the EU.
This emerges from a data breach, as a result of which Fidelity, It Financial Newspaper, Investico and various international media were given access to 120,000 internal emails, memos and call notes from Uber.
According to the agreements, European Commissioners must wait eighteen months after retiring before they are allowed to work for a company that is related to their political activities. Kroes stepped down as European Commissioner in November 2014 and joined Uber in May 2016. But now it appears from the leaked emails that she had already discussed the taxi company several times with the ministers involved.
For example, Kroes telephoned her contacts in The Hague when the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) raided Uber’s headquarters in 2015. Neelie Kroes is now calling the Minister of Economic Affairs and other people from the government to have the police and supervisor cut down. Fidelity from an email from senior Uber employees.
Taxi company’s Uberpop app was illegal in the Netherlands
The fact that Uber lobbied in 2015 had to do with a new app, which the Dutch government had declared illegal. With that app, Uberpop, drivers did not have to have a taxi permit, unlike the ‘normal’ Uber app. Because Uber launched the app anyway, the ILT started enforcement on the illegally driving drivers. In the meantime, Uber tried to get the taxi law in the Netherlands adjusted so that Uberpop was no longer illegal.
Uber did not just use Kroes for this. The company also had a similar tactic in other countries: French President Emmanuel Macron was also approached when he was minister of economic affairs in 2014, it writes. The Guardian.
Kroes says conversations were because of another position
Kroes says in a response to Fidelity that shortly after her departure as European Commissioner she held talks because of her position as special envoy of Startup Delta. To do this, she had to make contact with “a large group of companies, government and social organizations, with the aim of promoting a business-friendly and inviting ecosystem in the Netherlands”.
In a response, the ministry says that Startup Delta was intended for start-up companies, not for large companies like Uber.
Uber says it has drawn up stricter lobbying rules
Uber claims in a response in the newspaper that it has started working differently in the past five years and, for example, has stricter rules with regard to lobbying. Under previous CEO Travis Kalanick, who was replaced five years ago, the company did indeed sometimes cross the border. The company asks people to judge what they have done in the past five years.
The conversations did not ensure that Uberpop could continue to exist. In 2019 arranged Uber with the Public Prosecution Service for violations of the taxi law. The taxi company paid 2.3 million euros for this.
–
