This article analyses the extent to which European Union (EU) directives allow for variation in domestic implementation. Such flexibility in implementation may be used to deal with heterogeneity among member states. Based on an original dataset of 164 directives adopted between 2006 and 2015, we find that the use of flexibility is associated more with efforts to accommodate differences between national policies (substantive use of discretion) than with attempts to facilitate the decision-making process in and between EU legislative institutions (strategic use of discretion). Although flexibility may be used to address some of the same concerns that drive differentiated integration (DI), the situations in which each is most likely to be used are distinct because they approach the divergences between member states differently.
Adler-NissenR (2011) Opting out of an ever closer union: The integration doxa and the management of sovereignty. West European Politics34(5): 1092–1113.
2.
AndersenSSSitterN (2006) Differentiated integration: What is it and how much can the EU accommodate?Journal of European Integration28(4): 313–330.
3.
BellamyRKrögerS (2017) A democratic justification of differentiated integration in a heterogeneous EU. Journal of European Integration39(5): 625–639.
4.
DimitrovaASteunenbergB (2000) The search for convergence of national policies in the European Union. An impossible quest?. European Union Politics1(2): 201–226.
5.
DuttleTHolzingerKMalangT, et al. (2017) Opting out from European legislation: The differentiation of secondary law. Journal of European Public Policy24(3): 406–428.
6.
DysonKSeposA (2010) Which Europe? The Politics of Differentiated Integration. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
7.
EichenerV (1997) Effective European problem-solving: Lessons from the regulation of occupational safety and environmental protection. Journal of European Public Policy4(4): 591–608.
8.
EpsteinDO’HalloranS (1999) Delegating Powers. A Transaction Cost Politics Approach to Policy Making under Separate Powers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9.
EUDIFF (2017) The EUDIFF Datasets, Version of January 2017.
10.
FalknerGTreibOHartlappM, et al. (2005) Complying with Europe? The Impact of EU Minimum Harmonisation and Soft Law in the Member States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
11.
FinkSRuffingE (2017) The differentiated implementation of European participation rules in energy infrastructure planning. Why does the German participation regime exceed European requirements. European Policy Analysis3(2): 274–294.
12.
FossumJE (2015) Democracy and differentiation in Europe. Journal of European Public Policy22(6): 799–815.
13.
FranchinoF (2001) Delegation and constraints in the national execution of the EC policies: A longitudinal and qualitative analysis. West European Politics24(4): 169–192.
14.
FranchinoF (2004) Delegating powers in the European community. British Journal of Political Science34(2): 269–293.
15.
FranchinoF (2007) The Powers of the Union: Delegation in the EU. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16.
GastingerMHeldtE (2022) Measuring actual discretion of the European commission: using the discretion index to guide empirical research. European Union Politics23(3): 541–558.
17.
GenschelPJachtenfuchsM (2014) Conclusion: The European integration of core state powers. Patterns and causes. In: GenschelPJachtenfuchsM (eds) Beyond the Regulatory Polity? The European Integration of Core State Powers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.249–270.
18.
HägeF (2007) Committee decision-making in the council of the European Union. European Union Politics8(3): 299–328.
19.
HartmannJM, 2016. A Blessing in Disguise? Discretion in the Context of EU Decision–Making, National Transposition and Legitimacy Regarding EU Directives. PhD Dissertation, Leiden University. Available athttps://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/43331.
20.
HaverlandMSteunenbergBvan WaardenF (2011) Sectors at different speeds: Analysing transposition deficits in the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies49(2): 265–291.
21.
HeidbrederEG (2017) Strategies in multilevel policy implementation: Moving beyond the limited focus on compliance. Journal of European Public Policy24(9): 1367–1384.
22.
HéritierA (1995) “Leaders” and “laggards” in European clean air policy. In: van WaardenFUngerB (eds) Convergence or Diversity? Internationalization and Economic Policy Response. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp.278–305.
23.
HolzingerKSchimmelfennigF (2012) Differentiated integration in the European Union: Many concepts, sparse theory, few data. Journal of European Public Policy19(2): 292–305.
24.
HurkaSSteinebachY (2021) Legal instrument choice in the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies59(2): 278–296.
25.
JensenCBSlapinJB (2012) Institutional Hokey-Pokey: The politics of multispeed integration in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy19(6): 779–795.
26.
KaedingM (2008) Lost in translation or full steam ahead. The transposition of EU transport directives across member states. European Union Politics9(1): 115–143.
27.
KrollDALeuffenD (2015) Enhanced cooperation in practice. An analysis of differentiated integration in EU secondary law. Journal of European Public Policy22(3): 353–373.
LeuffenDRittbergerBSchimmelfennigF (2013) Differentiated Integration. Explaining Variation in the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
30.
LordC (2015) Utopia or dystopia? Towards a normative analysis of differentiated integration. Journal of European Public Policy22(6): 783–798.
31.
MastenbroekEKaedingM (2006) Europeanization beyond the goodness of fit: Domestic politics in the forefront. Comparative European Studies4(4): 331–354.
32.
MiglioratiM (2021) Where does implementation lie? Assessing the determinants of delegation and discretion in post–Maastricht European Union. Journal of Public Policy41(3): 489–514.
33.
NanouKZapryanovaGTothF (2017) An ever-closer union? Measuring the expansion and ideological content of European Union policy-making through an expert survey. European Union Politics18(4): 678–693.
34.
NaurinD (2010) Most common when least important: Deliberation in the European Union council of ministers. British Journal of Political Science40(1): 31–50.
35.
RittbergerBLeuffenDSchimmelfennigF (2013) Differentiated integration and core state powers. In: GenschelPJachtenfuchsM (eds) Beyond the Regulatory Polity?: The European Integration of Core State Powers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.189–210.
36.
SchakelAHHoogheLMarksG (2015) Multilevel governance and the state. In: LeibfriedSHuberEStephensJ (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.269–285.
37.
SchimmelfennigFWinzenT (2014) Instrumental and constitutional differentiation in the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies52(2): 354–370.
38.
SchimmelfennigFDe VriesCLeuffenD (2023) Differentiated integration in the European Union: institutional effects, public opinion, and alternative flexibility arrangements. European Union Politics24(1): 3–20.
39.
SchmidtSK (2008) Beyond compliance: The Europeanization of member states through negative integration and legal uncertainty. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis10(3): 299–308.
40.
SczepanskiRBörzelT (2023) Two sides of the same coin? The effect of differentiation on non-compliance with EU law. European Union Politics24(1): 63–80.
41.
SteunenbergBToshkovD (2009) Comparing transposition in the 27 member states of the EU: The impact of discretion and legal fit. Journal of European Public Policy16(7): 951–970.
42.
ThomannE (2015) Customizing Europe: Transposition as bottom–up implementation. Journal of European Public Policy22(10): 1368–1387.
43.
ThomannE (2019) Customized Implementation of European Union Food Safety Policy. United in Diversity?Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
44.
ThomannESagerF (2017) Moving beyond legal compliance: Innovative approaches to EU multilevel implementation. Journal of European Public Policy24(9): 1253–1268.
45.
ThomannEZhelyazkovaA (2017) Moving beyond (non-)compliance: The customization of European Union policies in 27 countries. Journal of European Public Policy24(9): 1269–1288.
46.
ThomsonR (2011) Resolving Controversy in the European Union. Legislative Decision–Making Before and After Enlargement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
47.
ThomsonRTorenvliedR (2011) Information, commitment and consensus: A comparison of three perspectives on delegation in the European Union. British Journal of Political Science41(1): 139–159.
48.
ThomsonRTorenvliedRArreguiJ (2007) The paradox of compliance: Infringements and delays in transposing European Union directives. British Journal of Political Science37(4): 685–709.
49.
ThomsonRTorevliedRJudgeA (2020) Incentives to comply: The impact of national governments’ and stakeholders’ preferences on compliance with EU laws. Journal of European Public Policy27(12): 1801–1818.
50.
ToshkovD (2008) Embracing European law: Compliance with EU directives in Central and Eastern Europe. European Union Politics9(3): 379–402.
51.
TreibO (2014) Implementing and complying with EU Governance outputs. Living Reviews in European Governance9(1): 1–47.
52.
Van den BrinkT (2017a) The impact of EU legislation on national legal systems: Towards a new approach to EU–member state relations. Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies19: 211–235.
53.
Van den BrinkT (2017b) Refining the division of competences in the EU: National discretion in EU legislation. In: GarbenSGovaereI (eds) The Division of Competences Between the EU and the Member States. Reflections on the Past, the Present and the Future. Oxford: Hart Publishing, pp. 251–275.
54.
WinzenT (2016) From capacity to sovereignty: Legislative politics and differentiated integration in the European Union. European Journal of Political Research55(1): 100–119.
55.
YordanovaN (2013) Organising the European Parliament: The Role of the Committees and their Legislative Influence. Colchester: ECPR Press.
56.
ZeitlinJRangoniB (2023) European regulation between uniformity, differentiation, and experimentalism: Electricity and banking compared. European Union Politics24(1): 121–142.
57.
ZhelyazkovaAThomannE (2022) I did it my way: Customisation and practical compliance with EU policies. Journal of European Public Policy29(3): 427–447.
58.
ZhelyazkovaAYordanovaN (2015) Signalling ‘compliance’: The link between notified EU directive implementation and infringement cases. European Union Politics16(3): 408–428.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
