GENEVA (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has called for an EU-wide minimum wage and a stepped-up fight against inequality, in what represents a return to his left-leaning political roots as critics paint him as overly pro-business.

In a speech to the U.N.'s main labor body, Macron alluded to the protests by the yellow vest anti-government movement in France that exposed his balancing act as a promoter of business with his roots in the Socialist Party — which he abandoned to set up his own centrist party.

Macron joined heads of state and government, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the centennial conference of the International Labour Organization in Geneva on Tuesday.

Many addressed threats to traditional jobs posed by automation and artificial intelligence and called for more multilateralism to address global problems.