Freedom of Manoeuvre in the EU

Abstract

This research try's to find out in which way freedom of manoeuvre in the European Union is influenced by the average salience in a particular issue and the restrictiveness of a policy. Freedom of manoeuvre means the freedom a member state has to adapt a policy to the national context. The average salience is the importance given to a policy by the member states. We found enough support to conclude that there is a relation between the restrictiveness of a policy and the amount of freedom given to a member state and a relation between the restrictiveness of a policy and the amount of salience added to the policy.