Questioned Tuesday July 12 by journalists during a trip near Grenoble (Isère) on the site of the company STMicroelectronics, Emmanuel Macron swept aside the accusations on his privileged exchanges with the multinational Uber when he was Minister of the Economy , between 2014 and 2016. Revealed by the International Consortium of Journalists ofinvestigation (ICIJ), of which the Radio France investigation unit is a part, the Uber Files show that Emmanuel Macron facilitated the establishment of Uber in France while he was in Bercy, despite the hostility of several members of the government.
Emmanuel Macron has been under fire from opposition critics since the publication of his revelations. He responded strongly to his attacks on Tuesday: “As one of my predecessors would say, it touches one without moving the other”insisted the head of state, in reference to a sentence attributed to Jacques Chirac.
In the National Assembly, the expression literally makes most of the female opposition deputies jump. “When will an expression based on ovaries?“, wonders the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau. Danielle Simonet, of La France insoumise abounds: “I leave him his masculinism. If that’s innovation, frankly it’s lamentable from a President of the Republic“. The Insoumise MP goes further: “CThis reaction of the Head of State is a shame. Because what does that mean? This means that he claims to be Uber’s VRP. He therefore claims that he is there to serve the lobbies instead of serving our country and the general interest“.
“I saw that happen“, indicates at first, the deputy of the Nupes Sébastien Jumel. But if the expression gives a smile, especially to the men, this deputy Nupes of the 6th district of Seine-Maritime recovers very quickly to reframe Emmanuel Macron. “It’s not Chirac who wants. And then you remember that Jacques Chirac, invented a word for us each time he was faced with a big difficulty. A formula well chosen as preposterous, when he was locked in a situation complicated. Emmanuel Macron does not answer on the merits”, he criticizes.
The LFI-Nupes deputy from the North Adrien Quatenens is ironic: “It’s not what happens in Emmanuel Macron’s boxer shorts that interests me.“On the merits of the case, the coordinator of insubordinate France is very critical of Emmanuel Macron.
“It’s very serious. We must not trivialize what is happening. If Emmanuel Macron carried out a policy favorable to workers, it would be known”.
Adrien Quatennensat franceinfo
According to Adrien Quatennens, the Head of State “opposes at European level the presumption of employment for workers on Uber platforms”. Moreover, he believes that the Uber Files reveal “the fact that a minister in office at the time of the Hollande five-year term, was in collusion, acted in concert with the boss of an American firm against the will of the government of the time”. He points “the gravity of the situation” and affirms that we cannot “at the turn of a joke, brush it off with the back of your hand”. Adrien Quatennens also recalls that the Nupes “will ask the National Assembly to put a commission on the subject on the agenda.”
As for the Macronist deputies, unsurprisingly, they unite to support the head of state. Both in substance and in form. “It is a language of president since Jacques Chirac had already said it“, retorts Eric Woerth.
“This means above all that he assumes. And he is right to assume the meeting with business leaders. He is there for that. It is there to see companies, to try to measure changes in outlook as well. And he is right to assume things. And he has the right to say it“, continues the one who was Minister of the Budget between 2007 and 2010. Like his comrades in the Renaissance group, Éric Woerth believes that there is no need to talk about the Uber affair.