Hungary and Poland have lost a bid to challenge tighter rules on "cheap labor" being moved around the EU. 

The European Court of Justice dismissed their application to annul a directive on "posted workers" – a term that describes workers from one EU member state being employed in one country but sent to work in a different EU member state. Often it's a worker from a poorer country moving to a richer one to fill a low-wage job. 

The rules the court upheld end what France called "cheap labor" from some EU states coming to work in countries where there are stronger workers' rights. France wanted to overhaul the system, which allowed posted workers to receive only minimum wage in the host country where they work, with taxes and social charges paid in the home nation where they are legally employed.

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Posted workers make up only around 1 percent of the EU workforce, with many employed in haulage and construction. 

The issue has deepened the divide between east and west EU countries. Richer nations favored tightened rules, less wealthy member states Hungary and Poland did not.

France had said it gave Central and Eastern Europe an unfair advantage through the "social dumping" of cheap labor and said the practice eroded salaries and workers' rights in countries such as France and Germany.

Hungary said tightening the rules did "not serve the protection of posted workers" but was a "tool of protectionism" and sought an annulment. Poland submitted a separate but similar complaint. 

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice dismissed the actions from each country. Court documents said there should be "freedom to provide services" on a "level playing field." 

The court's dismissal of the actions has been hailed with enthusiasm by workers' rights campaigners. It will be less welcome to Hungary and Poland, still at odds with the EU over other issues, most notably their veto of the $1.3 trillion budget and $908 billion recovery fund. 

Having these cases thrown out by the EU's top court is unlikely to temper the moods of Hungary and Poland's prime ministers before the EU leaders' summit in Brussels later this week.