Le Monde | • Updated | By
If we had wanted to stage the impotence of the state, it is would not be taken otherwise. Thursday, June 25, while some manifestations of taxis were the scene of violent incidents, Bernard Cazeneuve (interior minister) in Paris, the Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, in Bogota (Colombia), and the president Francois Hollande from Brussels have in unison UberPop recalled that the service was “illegal” and that “must be closed” . The next day, the US company Uber organized in Paris two information / recruitment sessions for Parisians wishing to become UberPop driver. As if nothing had happened …
Nearly 3,000 taxi drivers, slightly less than 6% of reported taxis, on Thursday launched operations throughout France. But the blocking of access from Roissy – Charles de Gaulle, and some blockades, like at Porte Maillot in Paris, have given rise to acts of incredible violence. According to the Interior Ministry, ten people were arrested, seven police officers were injured and seventy vehicles were degraded during the day.
The main demand of the taxi unions concerns the prohibition of UberPop. This service launched in France in February 2014, by the US company Uber has already won more than 400 000 users. Using a free application on a smartphone, UberPop connects customers with individuals who improvised taxi drivers with their vehicles everyday. Without the need to invest in a taxi license and without the regulatory burden on transport vehicles with driver (VTC), UberPop is often able to offer cheaper rates two times.
Leave pledges without waiting for justice
For more than six months that the government proclaims the illegality of this service, any court decision only came today banned. The law of the 1 st October provides for the punishment of persons who organize clients linking to an insured service or by taxis or by VTC to “two years imprisonment and 300 000 euro fine “.
This activity with only a year of existence, no case law does not allow the courts to act quickly. Thus, the Paris Court of Appeal which had to rule on the request for suspension of UberPop decided on March 31, to stay proceedings, waiting for the Constitutional Council to rule on the section of the law defining the offense. No court can not intervene on this point before the final quarter.
The government, which has clearly been surprised by the virulence of Thursday’s movement had to give pledges without waiting for justice . Following a meeting held into the evening Beauvau place in the presence of Bernard Cazeneuve, Alain Vidal, Secretary of State for Transport, and taxi organizations, the tone has subsided .
Mr. Cazeneuve asked the prefect of Paris to make an order prohibiting UberPop. Regardless, it does not change much since the prefects of Gironde and North have already arrested in the spring of this, and as Bordeaux Lille can still roll UberPop.
“The order will ask the police to proceed with the seizure of the vehicle as a precaution in case of flagrante delicto” , ensures an advisor to the Minister of the Interior said that the Minister of Justice “sent a statement to prosecutors’ to do so. In case of flagrante delicto, the police will then alert the prosecutor may authorize the arrest. Only a court may subsequently order the confiscation of the vehicle.
This will make every effort to discourage UberPop drivers, failing to sanction the Uber company, is welcomed. The National Union of the taxi industry, one of the main organizations, said that “the climate of trust was restored” and called for a resumption of work of drivers. The Chamber of taxi artisans also called Friday in the “lifting of the blockade.”
Filing a complaint against the dirgeants Uber
On RTL Friday 26 June, Mr. Cazeneuve said it had filed a complaint against the leaders Uber inciting illegal activities. A process that will necessarily be long and that does not impede the Uber strategy. The US group includes court costs and fines in development costs.
It is probable qu’Uber compensates its drivers whose vehicle is seized or confiscated. So far in the hundreds of cases against UberPop drivers after police checks, Uber has consistently paid the fines and paid lawyers.
As “street taxis not affiliated to a central, probably lost 30% of their turnover in a year, “, says Serge Metz, CEO of Taxis G7, the question is how long they will wait until the government reaches the effective prohibition of the competitor “illegal” . A first meeting between the Minister of Interior and Thibaud Simphal, the CEO of Uber France, should soon be scheduled.
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