Macron to Visit Romania After Vowing to Tackle Cheap Labour

France's new President, Emmanuel Macron, has accepted an invitation from his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis to visit Bucharest.

"We also discussed about the much debated directive on the posting of workers," Iohannis said after meeting Macron on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels on Friday.

Macron was meeting the leaders of central and eastern EU member states after he pledged to undo an EU directive that allows Eastern Europeans working on temporary contracts in wealthier western European countries to paying social contributions according to the country they come from - which cost far less.

While Poles are the main beneficiaries of free movement within the EU in terms of absolute numbers, a potential crackdown on cheap labour in France would inevitably also affect workers from the EU member states in the Balkans - Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.

"I don't know how to explain in France not just illegal posted work but also posted work with the only objective to hire cheaper workers," Mr Macron said in an interview earlier this week to the UK Guardian and other newspapers, concerning the so-called "posted" workers directive.

In the same interview, Macron blamed an uncontrolled influx of workers from Eastern Europe for Britain's vote last year to leave the EU.

"What did Brexit play on?" Macron said. "On workers from eastern Europe who came to take British jobs. The defenders of the European Union lost because the British lower middle classes said: 'Stop!'"

He added: "Europe isn't a supermarket. Europe is a common destiny … The countries in Europe that don't respect the rules should have to face the political consequences. And that's not just an east-west debate."

Macron's words have already drawn an angry...