The final negotiations for the revision of EWC Directive 2009/38 are to start

Over the past 2 years, we have regularly reported on the revision of EU Directive 2009/38 on European works councils (‘EWC’), on the approach and positions taken by the European Parliament (‘EP’) and the other institutions, respectively, the resulting quite divergent drafts of revised Directive and on the legislative process as such.

The final negotiations, the so-called ‘trilogue’ (between the EP, the EU Commission and the EU Council) on the definitive text of the revised Directive are now to start. The EP has given a final mandate for such negotiations on 19 December 2024 and, although the Polish presidency (for the first semester of 2025) has not listed this legislative project as a priority in its political programme, the first negotiation meeting is scheduled to take place on 6 February 2025.

In preparing for these trilogues, the EU Council has published a comprehensive paper setting forth side by side the different proposals of the EP (based on the amended Radtke Report), the EU Commission proposal of January 2024 and the EU Council suggested amendments to these proposals.

Content-wise, it is generally expected that the final text of the revised Directive will lean more towards the EU Commission proposal rather than the EP proposal based on the Radtke Report, because of the EU Council impact (which has already submitted amendments to the EU Commission proposal leaning towards the business position), the more business friendly composition of the EP in general, and the widely recognised (and feared) draconian nature of some EP proposals.

The timing for finalising the legislative process is unpredictable, but if not in the first half of 2025, then it is expected that the Danish presidency will certainly clear the job in the second half of 2025.