Since the “Uber Files” and the revelations of lobbying by the leaders of the platform with Emmanuel Macron, the law now requires lobbyists to declare their actions towards politicians. Associations and deputies are calling for this transparency to be strengthened.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Olivier Dussopt and Clément Beaune, the current Minister of Labor and that of Transport, are heard on the morning of Thursday May 25 before the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry into “Uber Files”. These are thousands of documents internal to the VTC platform released in 2022 by the international consortium of investigative journalists, including Radio France.
>> SURVEY. Uber Files: revelations about the VTC giant’s lobbying practices
They had revealed the lobbying of the leaders of Uber through meetings and exchanges of SMS with Emmanuel Macron who was then Minister of the Economy. It was between 2014 and 2016. Since then, a law has been passed for more transparency in the activities of lobbies but this remains very insufficient in the eyes of associations and deputies.
Since the Sapin 2 law of 2017, lobbyists are obliged to declare the actions taken towards politicians: calls, sending emails, lunches. All of this is visible on the website of the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life. This is not the case, however, when it is the politician who contacts the lobbyist. The exchange or meeting then remains secret.
Only 70 agents within the High Authority
Socialist MP Cécile Untermaier sees other holes in the racket. “We do not know the person who was affected, whether it is the minister, the minister’s office. For the moment, we are not going to this degree of precision, in particular on the text concerned, we do not know in what text of the law exerts this influence”she explains.
This member is preparing a bill to fill these holes. If it is voted, the number of declared activities will automatically increase and this is problematic because the High Authority, in charge of their control, is already submerged.
“Almost 3,000 lobbyists registered in the directory of the High Authority. 67,000 declared lobbying actions. And behind, we have barely 70 agents within the High Authority. When we make the comparison, it speaks for itself. This does not is not enough”points out Kévin Gernier, of the NGO Transparency France.
Contacted, the High Authority acknowledges having limited human resources. In 2021, it controlled less than 1% of declared lobbyists.