EU Anti-Fraud Office clears Neelie Kroes of wrongdoing in Uber lobbying investigation

Former European Commissioner and Vice President Neelie Kroes did not violate European rules regarding her lobbying work for ride share platform Uber, said the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The organization investigated Kroes last year after publications about her lobbying work in the Uber Files, a series of investigative reporting produced globally which disclosed information about the company's questionable practices in various markets.

The investigation into Kroes was closed recently, and no violations of rules of conduct for members of the European Commission were found, OLAF said. The agency did not issue any recommendations about the issue in its report, which was forwarded to the President of the European Commission. OLAF said it will not comment further on the case.

Kroes herself issued a press release earlier in the day stating that the investigation had been closed, and that no violations were found. "During the long-running OLAF investigation, I was kept to secrecy which prevented me from publicly defending myself against the false allegations. Even though I knew from day one that I had done nothing wrong, it is nevertheless very pleasing that this whole matter is now settled once and for all, that it is behind us forever, and I have been unconditionally absolved of any form of blame," said Kroes.

According to the Uber Files, Kroes allegedly lobbied ministers and top officials for Uber in 2015 and 2016. Kroes left the European Commission in 2014, and was obligated to respect a cooling-off period of 18 months before she could begin lobbying. All former commission members face the cooling off period, which was increased in 2018 to two years for most members, and three years for former European Commission presidents.

The cooling-off period is meant to prevent conflicts of interest. The question was whether the former VVD politician violated the integrity rules. Shortly after the cooling-off period expired, Kroes officially started working for Uber as an important advisor.

But in the interim, Kroes was appointed by the Dutch government as a special envoy for StartupDelta, a government initiative to help new businesses in the Netherlands. Kroes stated that she "had contact with a large number of Dutch and foreign companies in this context in order to promote the Dutch entrepreneurial climate for start-up companies in the broadest sense." Uber was one of those companies.

"It was therefore extremely disappointing that I was accused of issues that really made no sense," said Kroes.

The Uber Files are a collection of more than 124,000 internal documents from the American company which were leaked by former Uber lobbyist Mark MacGann.