Trade unions are calling for the European Parliament to investigate Uber’s anti-worker lobbying of the EU following the Uber Files leak, which comes amid the company’s efforts to weaken a directive on platform working conditions.
The documents reveal that Uber have held 12 meetings with the European Commission which were not previously disclosed and that a former European Commission vice-president with responsibility for digital policy, Neelie Kroes, secretly lobbied on Uber’s behalf.
Uber’s EU lobbying operation has become even bigger since the period covered by the leaks, with a 16 times increase in lobbying spending by the company since it arrived in Brussels.
Uber has itself held 70 publicly recorded meetings with the European Commission since 2015, but is also paying up to €199,000 a year for outside lobbying assistance from Acumen Public Affairs, which has 38 lobbyists with accreditation to the European Parliament.
Today’s leak shows “Uber with the help of an advisory firm compiled lists of more than 1,850 ‘stakeholders,’ sitting and former public officials, think tanks and citizens groups, it intended to influence in 29 countries as well as European Union institutions”, according to the ICIJ team behind the Uber Files.
In an clear conflict of interest which reveals Uber’s ongoing influence on the EU institutions, Uber’s EU Policy Director, Zuzana Púčiková, holds a role as one of the European Commission’s climate ambassadors.
