On May 16, 2009, the EC Directive 2009/38 (Recast Directive) was published in the Official Journal. With effect from June 6, 2011, the EC Directive 94/45 on the establishment of a European Works Council (EWC) or a procedure in Community-scale undertakings and Community-scale groups of undertakings for the purposes of informing and consulting employees will be repealed. It will be substituted by the Recast Directive. This retrospective and prospective book unfolds as a diptych. The first part examines the background and some of the loopholes of the EWC Directive. The background is being studied from a conceptual, historical, legislative, and case law perspective. A substantial part of the first panel of the diptych is dedicated to an analysis of the European Court Justice and domestic case law related to the EWC Directive. This research was operated on the basis of national reports following a questionnaire or format annexed to the book. Both the national reports (Austria, Belgium, Fran