Non-compliance in the EU: Member states’ capacities and the goodness of fit

Abstract

Despite extensive research on non-compliance of directives in the EU it is still poorly understood. Debates between scholars on how non-compliance is explained or defined are still going on. In contrast to other articles that focus on delays in transposition, in this article I argue what factors are most important in the process of compliance. Second I do an analysis on the influence of two factors on compliance of provisions of the Equality Framework Directive. The article gives a clear view on how the factors, ‘goodness of fit’ and ‘capacities’ influence compliance with directives. It is argued that compliance is most likely if the misfit between national policy and the one adopted by EU is small and when a member states’ capacities are better.