Former EU Vice President and European Commissioner Neelie Kroes did not violate any European rules with her lobbying work for taxi app Uber in 2015 and 2016, the European Anti-Fraud Office of the European Commission (OLAF) concludes.
OLAF decided to investigate Kroes last year after the publication of the ‘Uber Files’, in which former Uber top lobbyist Mark MacGann revealed thousands of internal documents of the American company. The Uber Files showed, among other things, that Kroes’ mediation was crucial for Uber to make contact with influential European politicians, including Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The taxi app broke the law in many European countries by operating without the necessary taxi permits. Through contacts in the highest political circles, Uber nevertheless managed to keep the app up and running.
Kroes was accused of lobbying for Uber immediately after her resignation as European Commissioner for Digital Agenda in 2014. According to the law at the time, a European Commissioner was not allowed to work in the business community for eighteen months after the term expired. For Kroes, that period lasted from November 2014 to May 2016.
Nevertheless, Kroes was in frequent contact with Dutch ministers in 2015, including Henk Kamp (Economic Affairs, VVD) and Melanie Schultz (Infrastructure and Environment, VVD). When the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate raided Uber’s Amsterdam office in 2015, Kroes called (in vain) Dutch ministers in an attempt to stop the raid. “We were drunk and high on the political influence we had,” MacGann said of that period during a hearing in the House of Representatives in March. “The red carpet was redder and longer than that of the royal family.”
The Uber Files also showed that Kroes attempted to become chairman of Uber’s advisory board during her cooling-off period. That request was rejected by the European Ethics Committee and President Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission. “The big boss has decided,” Kroes then emailed Mark MacGann. „How rude”, he replied. Kroes responded: “You mean, how drunk”, referring to Juncker’s alleged alcohol problem.
Kroes would eventually get the desired advisor position at Uber, shortly after her cooling-off period had ended. After tough negotiations, she received a salary of 200,000 euros per year.
Private
According to Kroes, who announced in her own press release on Friday that she has been “fully rehabilitated” and “completely exonerated”, her lobbying for Uber was part of her role as ‘special envoy’ of the Amsterdam-based StartupDelta, a position that Kroes held after her job in Brussels. The Dutch government organization aimed to promote the start-up climate.
The fraud agency OLAF, which did not make the end of the investigation into Kroes public, said in a response that “no violations of the rules” have been demonstrated and that the investigation has therefore been “closed without recommendations.” Due to “confidentiality and personal data”, the OLAF press service does not wish to comment further. The report has not been made public.
In her press release, Kroes calls the accusations against her “extremely disappointing.” “Although I knew from day one that I had done nothing wrong, it is nevertheless very nice that this whole matter is now behind me once and for all.”
Reading list