"EU governance, misfit and the partisan logic of domestic adaptation: An actor-centered perspective on the transposition of EU directives"

Treib, Oliver. (2003) "EU governance, misfit and the partisan logic of domestic adaptation: An actor-centered perspective on the transposition of EU directives". In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2003 (8th), March 27-29, 2003, pages 32, Nashville, TN.

Abstract

The success or failure of governance in the European multi-level system depends crucially on member states' willingness and ability to implement the decisions taken in Brussels. That is particularly true for the implementation of Directives, which are not directly applicable at the national level, but have to be transposed into national law before they may become effective in practice. It is the aim of this paper to shed light on the logic of this process. What tie the causes of delays and deviations from the intentions laid down in the European policy measures? In this context, some scholars have pointed to the degree of fit or misfit between European demands and existing national structures and traditions as one of the major factors determining implementation performance. On the basis of empirical evidence from the transposition of six employment rights Directives in German, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, the paper demonstrates the limited explanatory power of this approach. Instead, it stresses the importance of domestic party politics in determining transposition performance and discusses the implications of this finding for the governance capacity of the EU.