The Achilles’ heel of European regulation: national administrative styles and the Commission’s neglect of practical implementation

doi:10.4324/9780203936184-20

Chapter

The Achilles’ heel of European regulation: national administrative styles and the Commission’s neglect of practical implementation

ABSTRACT

The European Union (EU) warrants attention from the revival of implementation studies as mentioned in the introduction of this book. The European Commission in particular is paying increasing attention to the implementation of Community law. Its 2001 White Paper on ‘European Governance’ made a signiﬁcant contribution to this debate by stating the necessity of implementation, ‘not only for the sake of efﬁciency of the internal market but also to strengthen the credibility of the Union’ (Commission of the European Communities 2001: 5).