The European Parliament is frequently seen as the ‘big winner’ of the Lisbon Treaty, given the fact that several changes have significantly extended its powers, such as the extension of co-decision as the ordinary legislative procedure, and the introduction of the assent procedure to...

This article replicates and extends the Hille and Knill (2006) study on the implementation of the acquis communautaire in EU candidate countries. We use a different methodological approach, i.e. the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), and extend the analysis by incorporating...

This article replicates and extends the Hille and Knill (2006) study on the implementation of the acquis communautaire in EU candidate countries. We use a different methodological approach, i.e. the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), and extend the analysis by incorporating...

Recent debates about the problem-solving capacity of supranational governance within the EU form the background of this paper, which explores the causal conditions for correct and timely transposition of EU directives. In this context, some scholars have pointed to the degree of fit or misfit...

This article investigates how the European Social Fund (ESF) is being employed to translate Lisbon/Europe 2020 goals on employment into domestic agendas. The emphasis is not only on how European priorities are taken into account by ESF national programming documents (talking the EU talk), but...

The most recent enlargement of the European Union, which incorporated post-communist countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), placed relatively little emphasis on the equal opportunities of men and women. However, acceding countries were required to implement Chapter 13 (‘Employment...

This paper studies the distribution and legitimisation of civil, political and social entitlements to non-citizens resident within the territory of EU member states. Is national citizenship indeed no longer imperative to membership in the national political community? Apart from trying to assess...

Not all member states are equally eager or able to participate in all aspects of integration, and the impact of EU policy on the member states varies across states and policy sectors. Whereas much of the literature on differentiated integration has focused primarily on formal opt-outs, this...