This paper provides insight into the evolving EU-wide corporate governance systems and discusses these changes within the context of the political-institutional, economic, legal and social features. In doing so, asking where are they, and where might they be headed? Specific attention is given to the comparison of the German and French system to the U.S. system. Moreover, this article also examines the evidence that varying legal and social traditions and rule of law directly impact corporate governance styles and efficiency. It is our contention that during the 1990s the EU nations experienced strong pressures to develop more effective corporate governance systems, tending toward the Anglo-Saxon model as applied in the U.S. and that this trends continues today especially among the large global multinationals.