French President Emmanuel Macron Gets Lukewarm Support From Romanian President Klaus Iohannis

BUCHAREST (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron received lukewarm support Thursday from Romania for his push to overhaul the system of cheap labor from Eastern Europe posted temporarily to more prosperous European countries. He met with President Klaus Iohannis at the Cotroceni presidential palace, where he raised concerns over so-called “posted workers” who are paid less than their home country’s minimum wage while paying taxes and social charges to their homelands.

The French-Romanian interim roumanie bilateral economic relationship is based on high-value added industrial cooperation, particularly in automobiles (Renault-Dacia represents 8% of Romanian exports and employs 18,000 people), aeronautics (Airbus Helicopters has a plant in Brasov), energy (Engie is the leading gas distributor and supplier in Romania), and telecommunications (Orange leads mobile telephony in Romania). In addition, France has a significant presence in retail with Carrefour, Auchan and Leroy Merlin, as well as in education through its numerous universities in Romania.

Cultural Adaptation: Experiences of Romanian Workers Living in France

Physicians from Romania are numerous in rural hospitals that struggle to recruit locally. They are especially numerous in specialties suffering from recruitment problems, such as anaesthetics-intensive care and radiology and medical imaging, and they are even more present in psychiatry departments.

Many make remittances to their families in Romania to cover basic living costs and care for elderly relatives. This long-distance solidarity is a form of intergenerational solidarity that is not always visible. However, they are not a solution to the brain drain of the healthcare sector and can’t offset an overall loss in the French hospital workforce.