Wednesday, June 26, 2013
C0.17 (Oudemanhuispoort)
Despite the fact that both the preliminary rulings system and direct action protect and advance legal integration in the European Union, there has been little empirical research on how direct actions by the European Commission and enforcement by national courts are interdependently used in pursuit of cases of bad application. The treaty grants the European Commission discretion in its decisions to take action in infringement cases. The comprehensive case studies of Falkner et al. (2005) and Hartlapp (2005) have shown that enforcement by the Commission is especially lacking when it comes to bad application. Although compliance studies often use decisions by the Commission in the course of infringement procedures as indicators for non-compliance and acknowledge the potential for politically biased decisions (Börzel 2001), the complete picture of non-compliance has been hardly considered. The aim of this study is to explain bad application cases by investigating infringement and preliminary ruling procedures at the same time By taking such a comprising view that integrates centralized and decentralized enforcement, this study highlights the role of the European Commission in the process of legal integration, which is often neglected due to a focus on the European Court of Justice. Empirically, this contribution systematically investigates enforcement efforts in fifteen member states over a fifteen year period. Using a large sample allows comparisons across sectors and countries that add to existing research on decentralized enforcement in specific policy fields (e.g.Cichowski 2007). The results reveal variation across both member states and policy sectors that is best explained by institutional factors, legitimacy concerns and public awareness.
