Two of the representative entities of the taxi sector in Portugal will participate in a demonstration of European taxi drivers, on September 8, in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, demanding measures from the institution after the “Uber Files” case.
Portugal among the countries where Uber used the violence of taxi drivers to obtain benefits
In a statement released this Thursday, the Portuguese Federation of Taxis and the National Association of Road Transport in Light Cars (ANTRAL) realize that the objective of the protest “is to demand that the European Commission, the European Parliament and the parliaments of the respective States States consequences of promiscuity now revealed – with facts – that allowed the invasion and installation of this multinational in Europe“.
It is intended to know the intentions of the European Commission after the disclosure of the caseThey demand parliamentary investigations, sanctions and compensation, and they demand that “the difference between the public utility service of the taxi and the offers of the private initiative be clearly marked.”
The manifesto also includes the demand for budgeting for the modernization and decarbonization of the public utility service of the taxi, and a brake on the liberalization of the public utility service of the taxi, about which the European associations were not heard.
“We European taxis (utility service) demand that all the light is turned on about the scandal “Uber Files.” The former Competition Commissioner and Vice President of the European Commission is seriously implicated. Strong suspicions of influence peddling and conflict of interest weigh heavily on the shoulders of this former senior employee who now works for the US company Uber,” the document reads.
Uber. There are drivers who refuse to travel in Portugal due to low passenger qualifications (which is prohibited by law)
The American company Uber conceived an expansion strategy who resorted to political lobbying with governments, but also to illicit ways of misleading the authoritiesrevealed a work by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICJI) released on July 10.
The taxi drivers are now requesting meetings with the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, with the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, with the Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmi, and with the Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean.
“The main objective of our demonstration on September 8 is to ensure that the “Uber Files” scandal is not buried.. It is important that the personalities in question, the whistleblower Mark Macgann, as well as the CIJI journalists, are heard. We want to know what the intentions of the European Commission are and what follow-up it intends to give to the revelations of the CIJI”, says the note.
The professionals also demand the annulment of a European recommendation (2022/C62/01) that, among others, promotes the deregulation of the public taxi service for greater liberalization, pointing out that “no national organization of taxi drivers has requested this change”.
“The recommendation seems to us to be inspired by the “Lobby MOVE ME” (integrated by Uber, FreeNow, Bolt) that forces liberalization, for the convenience of multinationals. We require that the distinction be clearly marked between the public taxi service and other paid passenger transport offers”, they write.
Among the associations present on the 8th will be the National Taxi Association and the Taxi Union of Catalonia (Spain), and Team Táxi, CGT Táxis, the Fédération Nationale du Táxi, the Union Nationale des Táxis, the Fédération Nationale des Taxis Indépendant and Nouveaux Taxis Parisiens (France).
Unite The Union (England and Ireland), United Cabbies Group (England), Union Nationale Taxis Suisse (Switzerland), Unione di Rappresentanza Italiana dei Tassisti (Italy), Elite Taxi and Brussels Taxi Fed (Belgium).
The “Uber Files” investigation involved 40 media outlets from 29 countries (Portugal is not on this list of “media partners”, although the Portuguese case was addressed), and analyzed more than 124,000 documents. It concluded that, between 2013 and 2017, the then general director of the transport platform, Travis Kalanick, endorsed a strategy (including in Portugal) that violence against Uber drivers exploded to promote the image of the company in front of taxi drivers and governments that create problems for their business.
The plan began to be designed in 2015, when the strategists of the American company realized that they could benefit from acts of violence against drivers, winning the sympathy of public opinion, it was mentioned.
The investigation quoted one of the company’s lobbyists, Christian Samoilovich, in a message sent to a colleague in March of that year, in which he acknowledges that Uber could use violence against drivers in his favorafter an advisor to the European Commission wrote on the social network Facebook that an Uber in which he had traveled had been attacked by taxi drivers.
Source: Observadora
