Differentiated policy implementation in the EU: comparative perspectives

Abstract

EU law and policies often leave room to member states to make further choices during implementation. This leads to patterns of differentiated policy implementation, under which the same EU policy arrangement is implemented differently in different member states. These differences affect both the way policies are experienced and have an impact ‘on the ground’ and the effectiveness of the EU policy arrangement as a whole. Over the past years, differentiated policy implementation in the EU has been studied under different labels (including also ‘customization’ and ‘domestication’) and using both quantitative analyses and (single) case studies. In order to advance our understanding of the drivers and effects of differentiated policy implementation, this panel takes a comparative approach, in two ways. To begin with, the papers in this panel cover different EU policies and policy areas, ranging from water management to fiscal policy and from energy policy to social policy. In addition, each of the papers analyses policy implementation in multiple EU member states, covering Nordic, Western European, Southern European and Central/Eastern European states.

Title	Details
Differentiated implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive: An Analysis of Four Member States	View Paper Details
Differentiated Policy Implementation as the Tool of European Energy Transition	View Paper Details
EU versus core state powers: the customization of European Union fiscal policy	View Paper Details
Implementing EU water policy goals at the local-regional level in Finland and Sweden: the use of different types of knowledge in collaborative decision-making in water governance	View Paper Details
Implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights: Regulatory tensions as driver for differentiated policy implementation	View Paper Details