The European Parliament reached a deal on the platform workers’ directive, pending confirmation by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee on 12 December.
The Czech presidency’s latest compromise text on the platform workers' directive made some additional tweaks in the hope of securing a majority at a new meeting with EU ambassadors on Wednesday (30 November).
The Czech presidency circulated a new compromise text on the platform workers' directive, hoping it would become the EU Council's negotiating position. Still, uncertainty remains about whether the text will receive the support of the majority.
A new, third compromise text from the Czech Presidency of the EU Council on the platform workers' directive further emphasises the importance of algorithmic management and workers' personal data protection.
Uber Files whistleblower took centre stage and slammed Uber’s “disproportionate” power over EU policy-making at a European Parliament hearing. The European social agenda is a “threat” to Uber, and one the company aims to take down, he added.
Uber and other platforms are lobbying against an ambitious EU directive on platform workers, Ludovic Voet, confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), writes as Uber Files whistleblower Mark MacGann is due to testify at the European Parliament hearing on Tuesday (25 October).
The centre-right's internal disagreements over a working compromise on the platform workers directive were laid bare at an event on Wednesday (19 October), where a former Uber driver interrupted the event to criticise the platforms’ lobbying methods.
In a letter to the EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, nine European ministers have called for “an effective and strong, but rebuttable, legal presumption” as part of negotiations on the platform workers directive.
The Czech Presidency proposed raising the threshold to trigger the presumption of employment for platform workers in a new compromise text dated Monday (10 October), seen by EURACTIV.
Disagreements remain fierce within the centre right European People’s Party (EPP) over the platform workers’ directive. There are rumours EPP MEPs want to reopen negotiations over the legal presumption of employment and the rebuttal of the presumption.
Members of the European People's Party (EPP) can’t seem to agree on a shared way forward over the platform workers' directive. As the EPP shadow rapporteur, Dennis Radtke, is deemed too close to the centre-left, frustrations are mounting.
MEPs seem to be approaching a possible compromise on the legal presumption of employment in the platform worker directive, while a broad agreement is starting to emerge in the EU Council.
New compromise amendments, seen by EURACTIV, show MEPs veering towards a broad-scoped legal presumption of employment. Negotiations remain “very sensitive” and “a compromise is far from being found," according to sources.
France heavily lobbied the European Commission over the rights of platform workers, favouring the position of platforms and raising more concerns of collusion between French decision makers and industry lobbyists, according to documents obtained by EURACTIV.
From mobility services to recycling applications, the sharing economy holds many promises. Whether to regulate it at European level remains a disputed question, however.
The European Union told Airbnb yesterday (16 July) to bring its terms and conditions into line with the bloc's consumer rules or face action by national consumer agencies, after a review of the short-term rental platform found some violations.
Following a difficult year that brought a new CEO at the helm, Uber is serious about listening to its drivers and policymakers, Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty told EURACTIV. Now the company aims at becoming a multimodal mobility platform, integrating bike sharing services or public transports.
France is entitled to bring criminal proceedings against local managers of ride-hailing app Uber for running an illegal taxi service, the EU top court ruled on Tuesday, dealing the Silicon Valley start-up another legal setback.
After half a year of intense debate and bickering between member states, the European Commission proposed on Wednesday (21 March) a new system for taxing digital companies that will charge large firms 3% of their revenue and will hit US tech giants like Google and Facebook.
EU judges ruled on Wednesday that Uber is a transport service, rather than a digital app, and therefore requires national authorities’ authorisation to operate in Europe.
EU lawmakers should create a new, centralised data protection authority to oversee investigations of privacy breaches that affect more than member state in the bloc, Giovanni Buttarelli, the EU’s top privacy watchdog, said in an interview.
EU privacy watchdogs are uniting to confront Uber over the breach of millions of consumers’ data that the ride-hailing app recently reported.
In Europe, innovative companies are often taken to court when their business model does not meet the established patterns, and this may prevent the EU from becoming a large common market for digital services, argues Žiga Turk.
Supporters of a controversial new push to tax tech giants insist they will overcome fierce opposition from a group of around 10 member states.