Abstract: The job of the EU in the years ahead is likely to consist more of implementing existing policies than of creating new ones. In addition, the future enlargement of the EU will entail problems of implementation for the new member states. In this context, we need to ask two crucial questions: How effectively are Community directives being implemented? And how effective is the control exercised by the Community institutions? Political science has rarely considered these questions together, and while a number of multidisciplinary studies have been carried out on these subjects, they need to be qualified. This chapter attempts to do so. To that end, questions about the implementation of directives in the EU member states are raised. For example, the member state must first take the necessary measures to transpose the directive, and these must then be notified to the European Commission. Is there effective monitoring? How does monitoring work? The chapter offers extensive empirical material on these issues. In concluding, recommendations for policy implementation based on the instrument of directives, especially with a view to enlargement, are offered.

Keywords: directives, enlargement, European Commission, European Union, implementation, institutions, member states, monitoring, policy, transposition,