By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Europe’s attempt to give workers at Uber, Deliveroo and other online companies more social and labour rights failed a second time after France and three other countries abstained from voting on the watered-down political deal.

EU lawmakers and Belgium, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, had clinched the deal last week, the second attempt after a December agreement failed to get the support of France and several other EU governments.

“The final compromise deal on the Platform Work Directive was put forward for endorsement by ambassadors at Coreper,” Belgium’s EU representation said on X social media. Coreper refers to the ambassadors’ meeting.

“Unfortunately the necessary QMV (qualified majority voting) wasn’t found,” it said, adding that it will now consider the next steps.

France, Greece, Estonia and Germany refrained from the vote, EU diplomats said. That in effect torpedoed the political deal.

The European Commission had proposed the draft rules in 2021, with an estimated 40 million gig economy workers in the European Union in mind.

(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Tomasz Janowski)