Interest Groups in a Multi-level Polity: The Impact of European Integration on National Systems

institutionalisation; Europeanization; multilevel governance; Nation-state

The First EU Social Partner Agreement in Practice: Parental Leave in the 15 Member States. IHS Political Science Series: 2004, No. 96

In this paper, we analyze the impact of one specific EU social policy measure, the Parental Leave Directive. This Directive is based on the first Euro-collective agreement, concluded in November 1995 by the ETUC, UNICE and CEEP. Contrary to the rather sceptical assessments presented by many observers at the time of its adoption, our in-depth analysis of the Directive's implementation in all 15 member states reveals rather far-reaching effects. The Directive induced significant policy reforms in the majority of member states and thus facilitated the reconciliation of work and family life for many working parents. These effects were not only brought about by compliance with the compulsory minimum standards of the Directive, but also by a considerable number of voluntary reforms. We argue that domestic party politics and processes of policy learning may explain the occurrence of these "unforced" changes, which have hitherto received little attention by Europeanisation scholars

Interlinking neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism: Sidelining governments and manipulating policy preferences as "passerelles"

The EU's founding fathers had the protection of the EU's constituent units as a key concern and set up serious hurdles to policy innovation in the absence of unanimous governmental agreement. These institutional design features, aptly characterised as "joint-decision trap" by Fritz W. Scharpf, were only softened but not erased over time. Nonetheless, the problem of how to innovate has, at times, been overcome through eclectic means. There are indeed some well known and quite visible practices as well as some less expected and more obscure strategies that have propelled the EU's policy system beyond what has for a long time been expected. This paper argues that there are two strategic moves the European Commission (and, at times, other supranational actors such as the European Court of Justice) can use to actively overcome member state opposition: first, sidelining some or even all national governments; and, second, manipulating relevant policy preferences. These two basic strategies can be seen to interconnect the diverging basic assumptions of intergovernmentalism and neofunctionalism as 'passerelles'.political science; joint decision making; unanimity; integration theory; intergovernmentalism; neo-functionalism

European Integration and the Welfare State(s) in Europe

This paper summarizes the state-of-the-art on European social policy integration. It summarises the controversy over the 'social dimension of European integration', which has been ongoing ever since the founding fathers of European integration in 1957 agreed that the economies should be integrated basically without social regulation to counterbalance liberalisation effects. It presents the historical development of EU social policy as well as criteria for evaluating the state of "social Europe" and finally discusses how the EU is impacting on different types of welfare states. The argument is that the EU contributes to framework conditions that promote more 'bounded varieties of welfare' in Europe. In other words, it is held that there will be a more restricted variety, oscillating within limits that are directly or indirectly imposed or reinforced by European integration.social policy; Europeanization; Europeanization; political science; welfare state; discourse

Problems of operationalization and data in EU compliance research

Substantial theoretical, conceptual and empirical advances have been made in research on the implementation of EU policies during recent years. However, our findings have remained ambivalent and our theoretical insights disparate. It therefore seems high time to address some issues that cause concern in this type of research and to raise awareness of the limits of the various theoretical approaches and of the data commonly used. This relates to the challenges of operationalising and of choosing adequate indicators for the dependent variable (compliance). We also discuss promises and pitfalls of different types of data used in the field, such as official statistics on notifications and infringements published by the European Commission as well as mass surveys. -- Die EU-Implementationsforschung hat in den letzten Jahren wesentliche theoretische, konzeptuelle und empirische Fortschritte gemacht. Die Ergebnisse sind jedoch ambivalent und unsere theoretischen Erkenntnisse noch immer disparat. Es scheint deshalb an der Zeit einige Problemfelder dieses Forschungszweigs zu benennen und die Sensibilität für die Reichweite verschiedener methodischer Ansätze und Arten von Daten zu vergrößern. Dies gilt für die Operationalisierung der Kernkonzepte und für die Wahl angemessener Indikatoren, um die abhängige Variable (Rechtsbefolgung) zu erklären. Darüber hinaus diskutieren wir die Vor- und Nachteile der verschiedenen Arten von Daten, die von den meisten Studien genutzt werden. Es handelt sich um offizielle Statistiken über Notifizierungen und Vertragsverletzungsverfahren, die die EU Kommission veröffentlicht, und um Umfragedaten.

Worlds of compliance: Why leading approaches to the implementation of EU legislation are only 'sometimes-true theories'

This paper summarises the main theoretical findings of a large-scale qualitative project on the transposition, enforcement and application of six EU labour law Directives in fifteen member states. Focusing on the transposition stage, our argument starts from a theoretical puzzle: When confronting the empirical results from our 91 cases with the various hypotheses that we derived from the literature, it turns out that all causal conditions suggested by existing theories, and even two of the most prominent hypotheses (on misfit and veto players), have at best rather weak explanatory power. On closer inspection, our qualitative studies show that even their basic rationale does not hold in some groups of countries. As a solution, we offer a typology of three worlds of compliance within the fifteen EU member states covered by our study, each of which is characterised by an ideal-typical transposition style: a 'world of law observance', a 'world of domestic politics', and a 'world of neglect'. This typology provides the key to understanding when and how individual theoretical propositions are relevant.policy coordination; implementation; Europeanization

Problems of operationalization and data in EU compliance research

Substantial theoretical, conceptual and empirical advances have been made in research on the implementation of EU policies during recent years. However, our findings have remained ambivalent and our theoretical insights disparate. It therefore seems high time to address some issues that cause concern in this type of research and to raise awareness of the limits of the various theoretical approaches and of the data commonly used. This relates to the challenges of operationalising and of choosing adequate indicators for the dependent variable (compliance). We also discuss promises and pitfalls of different types of data used in the field, such as official statistics on notifications and infringements published by the European Commission as well as mass surveys.Die EU-Implementationsforschung hat in den letzten Jahren wesentliche theoretische, konzeptuelle und empirische Fortschritte gemacht. Die Ergebnisse sind jedoch ambivalent und unsere theoretischen Erkenntnisse noch immer disparat. Es scheint deshalb an der Zeit einige Problemfelder dieses Forschungszweigs zu benennen und die Sensibilität für die Reichweite verschiedener methodischer Ansätze und Arten von Daten zu vergrößern. Dies gilt für die Operationalisierung der Kernkonzepte und für die Wahl angemessener Indikatoren, um die abhängige Variable (Rechtsbefolgung) zu erklären. Darüber hinaus diskutieren wir die Vor- und Nachteile der verschiedenen Arten von Daten, die von den meisten Studien genutzt werden. Es handelt sich um offizielle Statistiken über Notifizierungen und Vertragsverletzungsverfahren, die die EU Kommission veröffentlicht, und um Umfragedaten

Transforming social policy in Europe? The EC's parental leave directive and misfit in the 15 member states

This paper presents first results from a collaborative research project which analyzes the national transposition, enforcement and application of six European labor law Directives in all 15 member states. Looking at the case of the EC's parental leave Directive (1996), it draws conclusions about the domestic impact of European social policy standards. It will interest practitioners as much as labor law experts that, in fact, adaptational pressure was created in all 15 member states. Although the overall economic impact of the Directive in terms of costs was rather modest, every single country had to change its rules. While misfit was rather small in Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, the other member states were confronted with significant adaptation pressure. Political theorists may be surprised that our results cast doubts on the theoretical usefulness of focusing too much on matches or mismatches between European policies and domestic structures. We show that a very low degree of misfit may sometimes even be a problem rather than a condition for success and that the existence of considerable adaptational pressure may under certain conditions even be conducive to smooth implementation. In addition, several member states not only eliminated the misfit created by the Directive, but raised their domestic standards above the European minimum requirements. -- Dieses Papier stellt erste Ergebnisse eines Projektverbundes vor, der die rechtliche Umsetzung, administrative Durchführung und praktische Anwendung von sechs arbeitsrechtlichen EG-Richtlinien in allen 15 Mitgliedstaaten untersucht. Anhand der Richtlinie zum Elternurlaub (1996) werden hier die Auswirkungen europäischer Sozialstandards auf der nationalen Ebene behandelt. Für Praktiker und Arbeitsrechtsexperten gleichermaßen interessant dürfte unser Befund sein, dass die Richtlinie tatsächlich in allen Mitgliedstaaten Anpassungen nötig machte. Obwohl die von der Richtlinie verursachten Kosten insgesamt eher gering waren, musste doch jedes Land seine Regulierungen ändern. Während die erforderlichen Reformen in Deutschland, Finnland, Frankreich, Portugal, Spanien und Schweden von eher begrenzter Tragweite waren, sahen sich die übrigen Mitgliedstaaten mit beträchtlichem Anpassungsbedarf konfrontiert. Theoretisch Interessierte werden feststellen, dass unsere Ergebnisse Zweifel daran erwecken, ob die im Rahmen der Prognose des Anpassungserfolges bislang gängige Orientierung an der Größe des verursachten Anpassungsbedarfes wirklich sinnvoll ist. Wir zeigen, dass sehr kleiner misfit manchmal die erfolgreiche Anpassung sogar behindern kann, und dass hoher Anpassungsbedarf unter bestimmten Bedingungen größeren Erfolg verspricht. Darüber hinaus haben mehrere Mitgliedstaaten im Zuge der Implementation nicht nur die notwendigen Anpassungen vorgenommen, sondern ihre nationalen Standards über das von der Richtlinie geforderte Maß hinaus verändert.

Problems of operationalisation and data in EU compliance research

"Die EU-Implementationsforschung hat in den letzten Jahren wesentliche theoretische, konzeptuelle und empirische Fortschritte gemacht. Die Ergebnisse sind jedoch ambivalent und unsere theoretischen Erkenntnisse noch immer disparat. Es scheint deshalb an der Zeit einige Problemfelder dieses Forschungszweigs zu benennen und die Sensibilität für die Reichweite verschiedener methodischer Ansätze und Arten von Daten zu vergrößern. Dies gilt für die Operationalisierung der Kernkonzepte und für die Wahl angemessener Indikatoren, um die abhängige Variable (Rechtsbefolgung) zu erklären. Darüber hinaus diskutieren wir die Vor- und Nachteile der verschiedenen Arten von Daten, die von den meisten Studien genutzt werden. Es handelt sich um offizielle Statistiken über Notifizierungen und Vertragsverletzungsverfahren, die die EU Kommission veröffentlicht, und um Umfragedaten." (Autorenreferat)"Substantial theoretical, conceptual and empirical advances have been made in research on the implementation of EU policies during recent years. However, our findings have remained ambivalent and our theoretical insights disparate. It therefore seems high time to address some issues that cause concern in this type of research and to raise awareness of the limits of the various theoretical approaches and of the data commonly used. This relates to the challenges of operationalising and of choosing adequate indicators for the dependent variable (compliance). We also discuss promises and pitfalls of different types of data used in the field, such as official statistics on notifications and infringements published by the European Commission as well as mass surveys." (author's abstract

Three worlds of compliance or four? The EU15 compared to new member states

'Ausgehend von einer früheren Implementationsstudie über die 15 'alten' Mitgliedstaaten der Europäischen Union, deren Hauptergebnis eine Typologie von drei 'Welten der Rechtsbefolgung' war, geht dieser Beitrag der Frage nach, ob die neuen Mitgliedstaaten aus Mittel- und Osteuropa (MOE) eine zusätzliche Ländergruppierung mit einem eigenen Implementationsstil bilden. Wir präsentieren Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojekts über die Implementation von drei EU-Richtlinien aus den Bereichen Arbeitszeit und Gleichbehandlung in vier MOE-Ländern. Unseren Befunden zufolge ähneln die beobachteten Implementationsmuster der neuen Mitgliedstaaten denen einer kleinen Gruppe von Staaten innerhalb der EU15. Keine Unterstützung liefern unsere empirischen Ergebnisse dagegen für die Erwartung, die neuen Mitgliedstaaten könnten einer eigenen Logik bei der Befolgung von EU-Recht folgen, etwa in Gestalt eines deutlich laxeren Umgangs mit europäischen Rechtsvorschriften nach dem Beitritt als 'Vergeltung' für den hohen Vorbeitrittsdruck. Insgesamt lassen sich alle vier untersuchten Länder in eine Gruppe einordnen, die wir als 'Welt des toten Rechts' bezeichnen. Diese Welt, die durch politisierte Umsetzungsprozesse und systematische Probleme bei der praktischen Anwendung und beim Vollzug gekennzeichnet ist, umfasst jedoch nicht nur MOE-Länder, sondern auch zwei 'alte' Mitgliedstaaten.' (Autorenreferat)'Starting from the findings of an earlier compliance study covering the fifteen 'old' member states of the European Union, which identified three 'worlds of compliance', this paper seeks to establish whether or not the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) represent a separate world of compliance. We present empirical findings from a research project on the implementation of three EU Directives from the field of working time and equal treatment in four CEE countries. The evidence suggests that the new member states display implementation styles that are similar to a few countries in the EU15. The expectation that the new member states might behave according to their own specific logic, such as significantly decreasing their compliance efforts after accession in order to take 'revenge' for the strong pressure of conditionality, is not supported by our case studies. Instead, all four new member states appear to fall within a group that could be dubbed the 'world of dead letters'. It is crucial to highlight, however, that this specific 'world of compliance', characterised by politicised transposition processes and systematic application and enforcement problems, also includes two countries from the EU15.' (author's abstract)