The Transposition of EU Law: ‘Post-Decisional Politics’ and Institutional Autonomy

The transposition of EU law into national law is a significant part of the EU policy process. However, political scientists haven’t devoted to it the attention that it deserves. The author, a political scientist, construes transposition as a part of the wider process of policy implementation. Following implementation theory from the field of public policy, the article outlines three sets of factors (institutional, political and substantive) that affect transposition. Secondly, the article examines the manner in which eight member states transpose EU legislation and identifies a European style of transposition. Following institutional theory in political science, it is argued that this style isn’t the result of a process of convergence. Rather, it stems from the capacity of institutions to adapt to novel situations by means of their own standard operating procedures and institutional repertoires. It concludes by highlighting the partial nature of efforts at EU level to improve transposition, themselves impaired by the politics of the policy process.