(What and Why) Do Member States breach?

Abstract

Under the current regime of European legislation and its interpretation, Member State liability for breaches of EC-legislation can occur in different cases, depending on the type of legislation breached. European directives form a distinct group of legislation breached, compared to a second group containing European regulations, decisions and the Treaties. A third group are judgements by the European Court of Justice. This chapter offers an overview of the possible infringements of European law qualified as “breach” as well as a short overview of some of the typical breaching actors. The chapter will finish with a theoretical discussion and empirical analysis of the dimension of the importance of breaches of European legislation and possible explanations for those breaches.