Seeking a consensus these days between the French left and right seems like a miracle, but it has happened: the revelations about President Emmanuel Macron’s close relationship with Uber, according to which, when he was Minister of the Economy, he would have intervened personally to facilitate the entry in France of the American platform of private transport, has put all the opposition in agreement in demanding a parliamentary investigation of what it unanimously qualifies as a state scandal.
The Government, which has not yet removed the ballast of having benefited during Macron’s first term with contracts from the French public administration to private consultancies such as the American McKinsey, has closed ranks around the head of the Elysee. Macron himself has broken his silence on Tuesday to ensure that he “fully assumes” his approaches to Uber as Minister of Economy of the Socialist Government François Hollande between 2014 and 2016 and that he even “congratulates” himself for it.
“I was a Minister of the Economy who fought for innovation and for attracting companies. And I will continue to do so. It is incredibly difficult to create jobs without companies or entrepreneurs (…) and we have created thousands of jobs,” Macron told reporters.
The Uber Files it is the leaked internal records about the Uber platform and its aggressive way of implanting itself around the world. The documents, obtained by Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its network of associated media, including EL PAÍS, have revealed that Macron maintained close contacts with the top managers of Uber, even exchanging text messages with the founder of Uber. the platform, Travis Kalanick. Today’s president even acted on his own initiative — “I’m going to take care of this personally,” he wrote to the head of lobby European of Uber and today deep throat of the Uber FilesMark MacGann—to reverse Uber’s suspension in Marseille following strong protests in October 2015.
Macron, who, as his ministers recalled shortly after in the National Assembly, also held meetings at the time with directors of other large companies such as Netflix or Airbnb, has stressed that since the presidency he has demanded greater regulation in Europe of digital platforms. “We have regulated the sector without any complacency. We have been the first country to regulate the platforms and, later, we have pressed at a European level. So I am extremely proud ”, he has insisted.
His statements have not calmed the spirits of a National Assembly that sees in the leaks of the Uber Files a new way of attacking a government that no longer has an absolute majority in the chamber.
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From the left-wing alliance Nupes to the extreme right of Marine Le Pen, the parliamentary opposition reiterated this Tuesday its demand for an investigative commission from the National Assembly.
“A minister of the Republic would have served the interests of an American company. We demand a parliamentary investigation commission ”, the deputy of France Insumisa Danielle Simonnet has claimed on behalf of the leftist alliance, which she has been calling for the investigation since the events were known. Uber Filesthis past weekend. Also the National Regroupment of Marine Le Pen, which with 89 seats is one of the main opposition forces, has demanded an investigation so that the deputies can exercise their role as “controllers of the government’s action”.
For his part, the former presidential candidate and today a communist deputy Fabien Roussel considers that the Uber case “raises the question of how an active president can be questioned” and has proposed a “modification” of the Constitution to allow this step.
None of the demands seems to have an answer, at least immediately. A parliamentary investigation commission could only be set up quickly, this summer, if it is supported by the president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, which is unlikely because it comes from the Macronist ranks, which do not have an absolute majority but do have a relative one. As the Franceinfo radio station recalls, the opposition has to exercise its “right of rotation”, that is, the possibility that each parliamentary group has to write a resolution proposal to open an investigation commission once per parliamentary session. For this, however, they should wait until the fall.
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