This open access book provides an exhaustive picture of the role that annulment conflicts play in the EU multilevel system. Based on a rich dataset of annulment actions since the 1960s and a number of in-depth case studies, it explores the political dimension of annulment litigation, which has become an increasingly relevant judicial tool in the struggle over policy content and decision-making competences. The book covers the motivations of actors to turn policy conflicts into annulment actions, the emergence of multilevel actors' litigant configurations, the impact of actors' constellations on success in court, as well as the impact of annulment actions on the multilevel policy conflicts they originate from.

Public Policy and the CJEU's Power offers an overarching analytical framework for thinking about the impact of policy contexts on the CJEU's influence on European public policy and the course of European integration. Thereby, it lays out a research agenda that is best described as public policy approach to studying judicial power in the European Union. The policy contexts within which actors operate do not only structure the incentives to use litigation, they also affect how strongly the implementation of court rulings relies on these policy stakeholders. Therefore, the CJEU's power is strongly dependent on policy contexts and policy stakeholders. This argument is illustrated by a wide variety of empirical analyses covering the three major types of legal actions before the CJEU (infringement proceedings, preliminary rulings and annulments), a wide variety of policy fields (e.g. competition law, internal market regulation, common agriculture policy, social policies, foreign policy), and different types of policy stakeholders (e.g. public, private, subnational, national and European stakeholders). Using this rich empirical material, the book provides an analytic framework for thinking about how policy contexts influence the CJEU's impact. Bringing together expert contributions, Public Policy and the CJEU's Power will be of great interest and use to scholars working on the European Union, law and politics and public policy. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in the Journal of European Integration.

Public Policy and the CJEU's Power offers an overarching analytical framework for thinking about the impact of policy contexts on the CJEU's influence on European public policy and the course of European integration. Thereby, it lays out a research agenda that is best described as public policy approach to studying judicial power in the European Union. The policy contexts within which actors operate do not only structure the incentives to use litigation, they also affect how strongly the implementation of court rulings relies on these policy stakeholders. Therefore, the CJEU's power is strongly dependent on policy contexts and policy stakeholders. This argument is illustrated by a wide variety of empirical analyses covering the three major types of legal actions before the CJEU (infringement proceedings, preliminary rulings and annulments), a wide variety of policy fields (e.g. competition law, internal market regulation, common agriculture policy, social policies, foreign policy), and different types of policy stakeholders (e.g. public, private, subnational, national and European stakeholders). Using this rich empirical material, the book provides an analytic framework for thinking about how policy contexts influence the CJEU's impact. Bringing together expert contributions, Public Policy and the CJEU's Power will be of great interest and use to scholars working on the European Union, law and politics and public policy. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in the Journal of European Integration.

This open access book provides an exhaustive picture of the role that annulment conflicts play in the EU multilevel system. Based on a rich dataset of annulment actions since the 1960s and a number of in-depth case studies, it explores the political dimension of annulment litigation, which has become an increasingly relevant judicial tool in the struggle over policy content and decision-making competences. The book covers the motivations of actors to turn policy conflicts into annulment actions, the emergence of multilevel actors' litigant configurations, the impact of actors' constellations on success in court, as well as the impact of annulment actions on the multilevel policy conflicts they originate from.

What does EU law truly mean for the member states? Do they abide or don't they? This book presents the first encompassing and in-depth empirical study of the effects of 'voluntaristic' and (partly) 'soft' EU policies in all 15 member states. The authors examine 90 case studies across a range of EU Directives and shed light on burning contemporary issues in political science, integration theory, and social policy. They reveal that there are major implementation failures and that, to date, the European Commission has not been able adequately to perform its control function. While all countries are occasional non-compliers, some quite frequently privilege their domestic political concerns over performance of their EU-related duties. Others neglect these EU obligations as a matter of course. This study answers questions of crucial importance for politics in theory and in practice, and suggests how implementation of EU law can be fostered in the future.

What does EU law truly mean for the member states? Do they abide or don't they? This book presents the first encompassing and in-depth empirical study of the effects of 'voluntaristic' and (partly) 'soft' EU policies in all 15 member states. The authors examine 90 case studies across a range of EU Directives and shed light on burning contemporary issues in political science, integration theory, and social policy. They reveal that there are major implementation failures and that, to date, the European Commission has not been able adequately to perform its control function. While all countries are occasional non-compliers, some quite frequently privilege their domestic political concerns over performance of their EU-related duties. Others neglect these EU obligations as a matter of course. This innovative study answers questions of crucial importance for politics in theory and in practice, and suggests how implementation of EU law can be fostered in the future.

The European Commission is at the center of the European Union's political system. Within its five-year terms each Commission proposes up to 2000 binding legal acts and therefore crucially shapes EU policy, which in turn impacts on the daily lives of more than 500 million European citizens. However, despite the Commissions key role in setting the agenda for European decision making, little is known about its internal dynamics when preparing legislation. This book provides a problem-driven, theoretically-founded, and empirically rich treatment of the so far still understudied process of position-formation inside the European Commission. It reveals that various internal political positions prevail and that the role of power and conflict inside the European Commission is essential to understanding its policy proposals. Opening the 'black box' of the Commission, the book identifies three ideal types of internal position-formation. The Commission is motivated by technocratic problem-solving, by competence-seeking utility maximization or ideologically-motivated policyseeking. Specifying conditions that favor one logic over the others, the typology furthers understanding of how the EU system functions and provides novel explanations of EU policies with substantial societal implications.