FirstFT: Uber warns prices may rise 40% under EU gig work plans

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A top Uber executive has warned that Brussels’ proposals to designate gig workers as de facto employees will force its ride-hailing service to shut down in hundreds of cities across the bloc and raise prices by as much as 40 per cent if enacted.

Anabel Díaz, head of Uber’s mobility division in Europe, urged lawmakers debating the EU’s Platform Work Directive this week to approve rules that preserve what she described as self-employed workers’ desire for flexibility.

“If Brussels forces Uber to reclassify drivers and couriers across the EU, we could expect to see a 50-70 per cent reduction in the number of work opportunities,” Díaz said. This would cause Uber to cease operating in “hundreds” of the 3,000 cities across the EU that it serves today, she added, and lengthen customer wait times.

Her comments come in the week that the EU’s main institutions — the European Commission, the parliament and the Council of Ministers — have kick-started negotiations over the final text of the new law, which is aimed at improving economic conditions for gig workers in the bloc. Here’s more from Diaz’s interview with the Financial Times.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• US interest rates: The Federal Reserve is expected to maintain its benchmark interest rate at a 22-year high.

• Economic data: The UK publishes its consumer price index for last month and its house price index.

• King Charles in Paris: Britain’s monarch will visit France for three days after host President Emmanuel Macron was forced to cancel the King’s planned trip in March because of protests over unpopular pension reforms.

Join Martin Wolf, FT China watchers and UBS China economist Tao Wang for a subscriber-only webinar on China’s economic slowdown tomorrow at 11am BST. Register for free here.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: Crispin Odey urged a woman he groped to downplay the incident to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority while it considered whether he should retain his regulatory approval as a “fit and proper person”. The woman, the 20th to come forward to the FT with claims of sexual misconduct against the financier, said she was assaulted in 2005 when she was an employee at Odey’s hedge fund. Read the full story.

2. US president Joe Biden urged world leaders to oppose early peace talks that would lead to Ukraine being “carved up”, arguing that standing firm against Russia would deter future invasions of independent nations. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy also delivered his own appeal. Here’s more from yesterday’s UN General Assembly.

3. Exclusive: The cost of new armed drones for the UK military has jumped more than 40 per cent in part due to attempts by the Ministry of Defence to find savings in its budget two years ago. The extra costs of the programme were revealed in response to the opposition Labour party’s written parliamentary questions over recent months. Here are the other issues that raised the price tag.

• UK politics: Rishi Sunak has been accused of presiding over a “slow-motion car crash” as the prime minister prepares to delay crucial net zero measures.

• Red tape: UK-based broadcaster Sky has called on the government to tackle excessive regulation which it says has added “significant cost” to its business and the media industry.

4. The CBI has delayed its annual meeting due to take place today, telling members it had “short-term cash flow challenges” after losing corporate members following claims of sexual misconduct this year. The group had hoped to secure £3mn of funding before the meeting. Here’s more on the existential crisis engulfing Britain’s largest business lobby group.

5. Justin Trudeau has denied trying to provoke India with what he called “credible allegations” that New Delhi’s agents could be linked to the killing of a Sikh leader in Canada. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s office has dismissed his Canadian counterpart’s claims as “absurd and motivated”, with the spat leading to tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

Deep dive

The green transition is fuelling increasing demand for rare earths in Europe. Although they are found across the world, no country has exploited these minerals like China, which accounted for 70 per cent of rare-earth mining production last year. With the EU almost entirely dependent on the country for the supply and processing of rare earths, can Europe go green without China? The FT’s visual team investigates.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Understandably, huge attention is being paid right now to China’s slowdown, its over-reliance on investment in property and its financial fragility. All this is understandable, writes Martin Wolf, but it might also be exaggerated.

Take a break from the news

To mark Deaf Awareness Month, HTSI interviews members of the deaf community on how they have embraced and challenged their diagnoses. “I hope to open people’s eyes to the fact that deaf people can achieve in sports,” said rugby player Jodie Ounsley.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith