On October 23, the European Council is set to have a decisive vote on the revision of the directive governing the posting of workers in Europe. The following day, it will be the turn of the European Parliament to deliberate on this highly sensitive text, which has been generating significant East/West division within the EU for weeks.
At the forefront of this issue, Emmanuel Macron visited Austria, Romania, and Bulgaria from August 23 to 25 to advocate his positions. The French president supports limiting postings to a maximum of one year, the principle of “equal pay for equal work,” and strengthening controls to better combat breaches and undeclared work.
Mr. Macron can count on the support of Western European countries but faces opposition from Eastern European countries, which fear a de facto limitation on the free movement of workers. However, Czech and Slovak leaders have recently softened their positions, expressing a willingness to find a compromise. This is not the case for Poland, which is directly opposing the French stance.
While European heads of state and government will seek to foster broad consensus, the possibility of a qualified majority vote cannot be ruled out. If this happens, the countries resistant to the directive’s revision would not be able to form a blocking minority.
