The European Parliament has extended the ban on Amazon lobbyists in an ongoing dispute between the US multinational and the EU's elected lawmakers.
MEPs in the Employment Committee at the European Parliament met on Tuesday to discuss the fall-out after Amazon failed to send its most senior executives to a hearing on scrutinising the US tech giant's working practices inside its European warehouses at the end of June.
The hearing had been largely seen as one of the preconditions for the US multinational's lobbyists to regain access to the European Parliament (EP), after they were banned in 2024 for also failing to attend a previous hearing in the same committee.
According to a note seen by The Brussels Times, MEPs were "concerned" over Amazon’s lack of adequate representation at the hearing. They say this illustrates the company's "sincerity" in engaging openly and in good faith with the EP's Employment Committee.
MEPs will call for a new hearing with representatives of Amazon workers and a senior executive to participate in the proceedings, the same format as last time. They may involve other EP committees.
Another visit to Amazon warehouses will also be organised by MEPs to get more first-hand perspectives on working conditions. The details will be decided at the next meeting in September.
At the time, an Amazon spokesperson told The Brussels Times that they were "perplexed" that their proposed representatives, two vice-presidents, had been "excluded" from the hearing.
Moreover, the US multinational had also invited European Parliament President Roberta Metsola for a closed-door meeting in Washington D.C. with a senior executive. This measure too was rejected by the Employment Committee on Tuesday, according to a press release by Brussels-based trade union federation UNI Europa.
"We welcome the EMPL Committee’s principled decision to maintain the Amazon lobby ban and reject the company’s attempt at evading public scrutiny in a closed-door meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola," said Oliver Roethig, UNI Europa Regional Secretary.
President Metsola's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
