Special issue: Moving beyond legal compliance: innovative approaches to EU multi-level implementation

Research on implementation in the European Union (EU) is characterized by a strong focus on legal conformance with EU policy. However, this focus has been criticized for insufficiently accounting for the implications of the EU’s multilevel governance structure, thus providing an incomplete picture of EU implementation, its diversity and practice.

The contributions of this collection represent a shift towards a more performance-oriented perspective on EU implementation as problem-solving. They approach implementation fundamentally as a process of interpretation of superordinate law by actors who are embedded within multiple contexts arising from the coexistence of dynamics of Europeanization, on the one hand, and what has been termed ‘domestication’, on the other.

Moving beyond legal compliance, the contributions provide new evidence on the diversity of domestic responses to EU policy, the roles and motivations of actors implementing EU policy, and the ‘black box’ of EU law in action and its enforcement.

Articles:

+ Moving beyond legal compliance: innovative approaches to EU multilevel implementation Eva Thomann & Fritz Sager
+ Moving beyond (non-)compliance: the customization of European Union policies in 27 countries Eva Thomann & Asya Zhelyazkova
+ Guardians of EU law? Analysing roles and behaviour of Dutch legislative drafters involved in EU compliance Ellen Mastenbroek
+ Policy implementation through multi-level governance: analysing practical implementation of EU air quality directives in Germany Judith A.M. Gollata & Jens Newig
+ Europe at the frontline: analysing street-level motivations for the use of European Union migration law Nora Dörrenbächer
+ Mind the trend! Enforcement of EU law has been moving to ‘Brussels’ Miroslava Scholten
+ Strategies in multilevel policy implementation: moving beyond the limited focus on compliance Eva G. Heidbreder
+ Toward a better understanding of implementation performance in the EU multilevel system Eva Thomann & Fritz Sager