Enforcing and managing practical application in the European Union: The role of transnational networks in dispute settlements

The practical realisation of the rights and obligations offered by the European internal market depends considerably on how national public authorities apply EU legislation in their daily work. A growing number of EU compliance studies have probed the transposition of European laws and discussed the importance and shortcomings of the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and national courts as central and de-central enforcers. However, practical application in the post-transposition phase remains rather unexplored. Drawing on new survey data covering the 27 EU and three EEA states participating in Solvit, an internal market problem-solving network, this paper investigates the role of transnational dispute settlement networks in enforcing and managing the daily application of European legislation by national authorities. We show that informal conflict resolution has become an important and effective tool for addressing misapplication following transposition. Anchored in national public administrations yet working under the ‘shadow of hierarchy’ of the Commission, transnational dispute settlement networks are in fact able to improve the compliance of domestic authorities.