On July 5, Jean-Noël Barrot, newly appointed Minister Delegate in charge of the digital transition and telecommunications, had already promised it to the specialized media context : he “would deport” topics related to Uber due to his proximity to the group’s communications director for France and Western Europe – that is, his sister, Hélène Barrot.
A promise now translated into a decree published in Official newspaper, Friday, July 22, taken pursuant to a 1959 decree relating to the question of conflicts of interest within the government. This provides that the Minister Delegate “does not know of acts of any kind relating specifically to the Uber group” and that the corresponding powers will therefore be directly exercised by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire.
On July 10, the international “Uber Files” survey conducted by forty-two media, including The world, revealed how Uber used, in France as elsewhere, all the tricks of lobbying to try to change the law to its advantage. A survey which also revealed how, for his first campaign, in 2016-2017, Emmanuel Macron received the support of many defenders of the model promoted by Uber, including that of Mark MacGann, his former chief lobbyist in Europe.