While those in charge of running the country enjoyed a lazy Sunday afternoon, the President of the Republic was catching up on his paperwork, the main file being the new laws covering the new breed of 'personal transport service suppliers' - Uber and its ilk.Contested by taxi drivers across the land, with the support of the Left Bloc, the new laws sought to legalise this new horizon, App-based business model that is hugely popular with customers but hated by cabbies.
Macelo Rebelo de Sousa has kicked the legislation back to government in a shock move that has won wild applause from taxi drivers and leaves an embarassing gap in the government’s plans for Portugal projected image to be one of a modern, go-ahead place, fit for a new world of technology businesses.
The president looked at the new law and has made it clear that, "the purpose of reaching a balanced solution has not been fully achieved," i.e. ‘this is unfair.’
The President’s veto blocks a law that has the full approval of the Socialist Party and, in a rare move, its right wing opposition. The Left Bloc and the Communist Party had voted against the bill which left taxi drivers in a poor position, still tied with archaic red tape and unable to compete on price.
The President stated that the law missed the opportunity to review and change the legislation that taxi drivers have to follow, hence it is unfair as it leave the existing service suppliers saddled with old, cumbersome laws and allows the new breed of Uber drivers to press on to the new horizon, largely unfettered.
So, it’s back to the drawing board and the need to include changes to the current laws, or the new raft of ‘dos and don’ts’ will not be passed by the President.
Carlos César, parliamentary leader, sniffed, “we will make an effort to accommodate some of the concerns of the President of the Republic, which seem to me to be reconcilable with those that we also have and which have not been passed by the law."
This was followed up by an equally supercilious comment from the PSD’s new leader, Rui Rio, who admitted that, "there is some reason on the part of the President of the Republic and so the PSD will therefore be attentive to amendments."
The Left Bloc was pretty pleased both with itself and with the President’s reaction to the proposed Uber laws.
Unsurprisingly, the taxi drivers union, who had challenged the government's proposals from the outset, applauded Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's's veto.
Carlos Ramos, president of the Portuguese Taxi Federation, reminded all that, "I said that a monster had been created and that, if promulgated, this bill would lead to bankruptcy of thousands of businessmen, and fortunately there are people of good sense,"
The president of the drivers’ union, ANTRAL, Florêncio Almeida, received the news with "some joy" because it would have been, "a harmful law for the taxi sector."
