IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v25y2024i2p396-421.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The EU Commission: Supplying enforcement and demanding compliance

Author

Listed:
  • Kari Waters

Abstract

During the last 20 years, the European Union has been mired in crisis after crisis. At the same time, the number of infringement procedures, the formal requests from the European Commission to member states for compliance, decreased dramatically, despite the addition of 10 member states in 2004. Yet, the link between crises and Commission enforcement activity has not been systematically examined. In this article, I theorize about the role of time, and demonstrate that crises limit the Commission's ability to act as guardian of the treaties. However, crises are not deterministic in nature – the European Parliament and European Union citizens can alter the costs of Commission enforcement. I find that as Euroscepticism increases, the Commission's demand for compliance decreases, in part due to the steep reputational costs to the Commission when member states refuse compliance, especially after sanctions. The number of infringements is also positively correlated with European Parliament action, suggesting that even without formal sanctioning power, the European Parliament plays a role in European Union law enforcement.

Suggested Citation

  • Kari Waters, 2024. "The EU Commission: Supplying enforcement and demanding compliance," European Union Politics, , vol. 25(2), pages 396-421, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:2:p:396-421
    DOI: 10.1177/14651165231212762
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14651165231212762
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14651165231212762?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 1999. "Distribution-free estimation of some nonlinear panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 77-97, May.
    2. Richard Perkins & Eric Neumayer, 2007. "Do Membership Benefits Buy Regulatory Compliance?," European Union Politics, , vol. 8(2), pages 180-206, June.
    3. Fjelstul, Joshua C. & Carrubba, Clifford J., 2018. "The Politics of International Oversight: Strategic Monitoring and Legal Compliance in the European Union," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 112(3), pages 429-445, August.
    4. Bernard Steunenberg, 2010. "Is big brother watching? Commission oversight of the national implementation of EU directives," European Union Politics, , vol. 11(3), pages 359-380, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yaning Zhang, 2022. "Limits of Law in the Multilevel System: Explaining the European Commission's Toleration of Noncompliance Concerning Pharmaceutical Parallel Trade," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 1001-1018, July.
    2. Ruud van Druenen & Pieter Zwaan & Ellen Mastenbroek, 2022. "Getting State Aid Approved by the European Commission: Explaining the Duration of Preliminary Investigations in the State Aid Notification Procedure," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 545-561, May.
    3. Bono, Pierre-Henri & David, Quentin & Desbordes, Rodolphe & Py, Loriane, 2022. "Metro infrastructure and metropolitan attractiveness," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Iain M. Cockburn & Megan J. MacGarvie, 2011. "Entry and Patenting in the Software Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(5), pages 915-933, May.
    5. Nathan Craig & Nicole DeHoratius & Ananth Raman, 2016. "The Impact of Supplier Inventory Service Level on Retailer Demand," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 461-474, October.
    6. Piyapas Tharavanij, 2007. "Capital Market, Frequency Of Recession, And Fraction Of Time The Economy In Recession," Monash Economics Working Papers 34-07, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    7. Breinlich, Holger, 2008. "Trade liberalization and industrial restructuring through mergers and acquisitions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 254-266, December.
    8. Hussinger, Katrin & Pellens, Maikel, 2019. "Guilt by association: How scientific misconduct harms prior collaborators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 516-530.
    9. Schertler, Andrea & Tykvová, Tereza, 2011. "Venture capital and internationalization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 423-439, August.
    10. Semken, Christoph & Hay, Colin, 2021. "Gauging the gravity of the situation: The use and abuse of expertise in estimating the economic costs of Brexit," MaxPo Discussion Paper Series 21/3, Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo).
    11. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Doherr, Thorsten & Hussinger, Katrin & Schliessler, Paula & Toole, Andrew A., 2016. "Knowledge Creates Markets: The influence of entrepreneurial support and patent rights on academic entrepreneurship," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 131-146.
    12. Ming, Yaxin & Deng, Huixin & Wu, Xiaoyue, 2022. "The negative effect of air pollution on people's pro-environmental behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 72-87.
    13. Hardy, Wojciech, 2021. "Displacement from piracy in the American comic book market," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    14. Jonathan Colmer, 2013. "Climate Variability, Child Labour and Schooling: Evidence on the Intensive and Extensive Margin," GRI Working Papers 132, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    15. Branstetter, Lee & Chatterjee, Chirantan & Higgins, Matthew J., 2022. "Generic competition and the incentives for early-stage pharmaceutical innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    16. Fischer, Stefanie & Royer, Heather & White, Corey, 2017. "The Impacts of Reduced Access to Abortion and Family Planning Services: Evidence from Texas," IZA Discussion Papers 10920, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Carsten Hefeker & Michael Neugart, 2016. "Policy deviations, uncertainty, and the European Court of Justice," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 547-567, December.
    18. Desbordes, Rodolphe & Vicard, Vincent, 2009. "Foreign direct investment and bilateral investment treaties: An international political perspective," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 372-386, September.
    19. Shah, Nitesh R. & Ziedan, Abubakr & Brakewood, Candace & Cherry, Christopher R., 2023. "Shared e-scooter service providers with large fleet size have a competitive advantage: Findings from e-scooter demand and supply analysis of Nashville, Tennessee," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    20. Benjamin A. Olken & Monica Singhal, 2011. "Informal Taxation," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 1-28, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:25:y:2024:i:2:p:396-421. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.