Post-Accession Transposition of EU Law in the New Member States: A Cross-Country Comparison

European Integration online Papers (EIoP), Vol. 13, No. 2, Art. 18, 2009

18 Pages Posted: 3 Mar 2010

See all articles by Christoph Knill

Christoph Knill

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena - Institute of Political Science; University of Konstanz

Jale Tosun

University of Konstanz - Department of Politics and Management

Date Written: December 18, 2009

Abstract

In this paper we examine the transposition of European Union (EU) legislation in the twelve 'new' member states during the post-accession stage. To this end, we scrutinize the number of formal notice letters received by the new member states in the period from 2004 to 2007. Our analysis shows that there is considerable variation in the transposition behaviour. While Lithuania, Hungary as well as Slovenia are the best performers, the transposition of EU legislation is less effective in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and particularly Romania. The comparatively high number of transposition shortcomings by this latter country group clearly indicates that even the process of incorporating European provisions into domestic law is far from unproblematic, which suggests the existence of even more substantive problems with the practical side of implementation. The results of our descriptive analysis show that transposition failure is predominantly related to the degree of trade with the EU, bureaucratic capacity and pre-accession policy alignment. We conclude that in the intermediate-term increasing bureaucratic capacities and stronger economic ties with the EU may help to reduce transposition failures.

Keywords: acquis communautaire, public administration, implementation, economic integration, enlargement, Europeanization, harmonization, comparative public policy, post-Communism, European law, political science

Suggested Citation

Knill, Christoph and Knill, Christoph and Tosun, Jale, Post-Accession Transposition of EU Law in the New Member States: A Cross-Country Comparison (December 18, 2009). European Integration online Papers (EIoP), Vol. 13, No. 2, Art. 18, 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1562628

Christoph Knill (Contact Author)

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena - Institute of Political Science ( email )

Institute of Political Science
Carl-Zeiss-Straße 3
Jena, 07743
Germany
+49 3641 945450 (Phone)
+49 3641 945452 (Fax)

University of Konstanz ( email )

Fach D-144
Universitätsstraße 10
Konstanz, D-78457
Germany

Jale Tosun

University of Konstanz - Department of Politics and Management ( email )

Universitaetstrasse 10
Konstanz, D-78457
Germany

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