As usual in Brussels, after her departure in 2014 as European Commissioner for Digital Affairs, Kroes was faced with a ‘cooling off period’ to avoid conflicts of interest. Immediately after this period, the liberal started working as an advisor at Uber.
But leaked documents in the hands of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists would show that they already helped the American tech company before that time by contacting party members Prime Minister Rutte, then Minister of Transport Melanie Schultz van Haegen and Minister Henk Kamp on behalf of Uber. Economics).
Police raid
According to the research platform, she received orders directly from the Uber leadership and would even have tried to intervene via The Hague in a police raid on Uber’s headquarters in Amsterdam. A salient detail is that lobbying for Uber is explicitly prohibited by the European Commission during the cooling-off period.
Kroes denies that there was any informal or formal role at Uber. She points to her role as a special envoy to bring start-ups to the Netherlands for the government. She did get permission from Brussels for this job.
The publication of the so-called ‘Uber files’ is now causing quite a stir. PvdA MEP Paul Tang announces that he will file a complaint with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “What does she think? That rules did not suffer for her?”, the social democrat sneered.