Representatives from Paris, Barcelona, Florence, Berlin and other tourist hotspots met with EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager in Paris to denounce an “outdated” legal framework that prevents officials from cracking down on the web platforms.
The 22 cities are: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brussels, Cologne, Florence, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Krakow, London, Milan, Munich, Paris, Porto, Prague, Utrecht, Valencia, Vienna and Warsaw.
Airbnb, which dominates the home-sharing market, has increasingly clashed with municipalities trying to balance much-wanted tourism revenue against growing resentment from residents.
Several cities have imposed restrictions, in particular to combat illicit rentals that they say are siphoning off homes from the affordable housing market.
But officials say that without an EU framework, Airbnb can effectively operate with only minimal oversight, by claiming it is simply a platform to put people in touch with renters.
That stance was bolstered by a European Court of Justice ruling last December, which rejected a bid by Paris to force Airbnb to register as a traditional property rental firm.
The Eurocities alliance wants the EU to force platforms to share their rental data with local authorities as part of the Digital Services Act being prepared by Vestager’s office.
They also want Airbnb and other platforms to be held liable when renters fail to abide by local rules, such as caps on the number of overnight stays per year or the required registration of rentals with local authorities.
“Better cooperation between platforms and public authorities will be a prerequisite for a proper enforcement of the Digital Services Act,” Vestager said in a statement after the meeting. full story via thelocal.gr
There’s also the problem of strangers roaming the halls in polykatoikias. It’s OK if the AIRbnb flats are on lower floors and can be accessed from the street, not so ok when they are at they share your hall. Not all renters are
“wonderful people”!
This normally has more to do with influential hotel owners’ successful lobbying. In a post Covid world self contained apartments will be increasingly popular with travelers.
Athens has thousands of run down, empty apartments ripe for development as short term rental units. The wealth generated would stay in the hands of ordinary Greek people, as property owners and also local food/beverage businesses.This will not please the obligarchy one little bit. No wonder they are collaborating to close it down.