Implementing European Policies : the Impact of National Administrative Traditions

Abstract

This article starts with the assumption that a central problem for effective implementation of European legislation lies in the impact of national administrative traditions, since the formal and practical transformation of EU law rests mainly on the shoulders of national administration. It is the objective of the article to investigate the interplay of national administrative traditions and European policy implementation in closer detail. The comparative research design is facilitated by the fact that national administrative traditions prevalent in a certain policy field may differ from country to country. It is argued, that implementation effectiveness depends on the "institutional scope" of European adaptation pressure, which is not only affected by European requirements, but also by the embeddedness of the respective administrative traditions as well as national capacities for administrative reform. According to the degree of adaptation pressure, different paths are distinguished, suggesting more or less effective implementation.