ADVANCING THE SUPRANATIONAL COMPLIANCE DEBATE – NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF EUROPEAN UNION LAW

Abstract

For a successful effectuation of the supranational rights of EU citizens and third country nationals,it is crucially important that the rules and principles flowing from the European Treaties and the associatedlegislation are ensured in full. The available methods of public enforcement (in particular the monitoringpowers of the European Commission) are however insufficient to achieve that goal: compliance with the relevantEU rules and norms also depends to a considerable extent on the policy dynamics, public infrastructureand (styles of) administrative governance of the country concerned. This paper makes a modest attempt tofill a gap that is believed to lie between, on the one hand, leading political science theories on the receptionof EU law in the Member States, and on the other, the main legal studies on the quality of legislation and the(in)adequacy of the existing procedural frameworks for effectuating citizens’ rights. The main objective is toexplore some possible alternative avenues for facilitating the interplay between the EU and the national legalorders. By providing illustrations of some existing bottlenecks, asymmetric centrifugal/centripetal forces andavoidable feedback-loops, it points out how current practices may be enhanced, and outlines possible newdirections for securing a more structural domestic compliance record.