IndustriAll Europe welcomes the agreement reached in trilogue on the revision of the EWC Directive. This comes two years after the adoption of a report calling for urgent action to improve the rights of EWCs by the European Parliament and one year after the publication of a draft new Directive by the European Commission. After lengthy discussions at the last meeting on 20 May 2025, a compromise was found on all aspects.

A detailed analysis is not possible until the full text will be available, but it is expected that important progress was made on critical aspects such as the definition of transnational matters, limitations on the use of confidentiality and, above all, access to justice including legal representation and truly dissuasive sanctions.

Together with the other European Trade Union Federations and the ETUC, we will closely monitor the next steps, including the final approval of the new EWC Directive by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament in their plenary sessions, followed by the transposition into national legislation.

Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe said: “We welcome the long-awaited agreement on the revision of the EWC Directive. Improving EWC’s rights was a priority to strengthened workers’ participation in multinational companies. While restructuring is on the rise and thousands of jobs are at risk everywhere in Europe, this should give additional tools to our European Works Councils and empower them to effectively exercise their rights to information and consultation.”