traditions of their country).
Whether one favors or opposes the directive, there is no
question that the Anglo-American model (and its historical evolution as the outgrowth of
an extensive social movement by minorities) is quite different from the models of anti-
racism that traditionally predominated on the continent (where, in most countries, a
concerted social movement against racial discrimination has and does not exist).
Social scientists studying the EU have found that in member states where the
‘goodness of fit’ between a policy and the institutions of a member state are low,
implementation of EU law will often also be low.
For this reason, the EU must exert
soft and hard power in order to gain compliance with its measures. Unlike in the
American case, for example, where states were threatened with the removal of federal
funding for not desegregating their public schools, countries that fail to transpose the race
directive, or countries that do not implement it fully, will not lost any EU privileges, but
they may face sanctions imposed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The strength
of these sanctions varies, and as Conant has found ECJ sanctions are often ignored or
For example, Germany was recently found in violation of the
race directive by the ECJ, but no sanctions were imposed. This event failed to register in
most of the German media.
4
Interviews with the policy making elite in France, Belgium, and Germany.
5
The closest fit with the Anglo-American model were historically in the Netherlands and Belgium.
6
See, for example, Green Cowles, Maria, Caporaso, James, & Risse, Thomas (Eds.). Transforming
Europe: Europeanization and domestic change. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001.
As Dimiter Toshkov notes that “in analyses of compliance patterns and implementation effectiveness in the
European Union it [goodness of fit] is a common starting point.” (in “Taking Seriously the ‘Goodness-of-
Fit’ Hypothesis” presented at 4th ECPR-YEN RESEARCH MEETING in Brussels,
Last accessed March 05.
7
Conant, Lisa. Justice Contained: Law and Politics in the European Union. (Cornell University Press,
2002).
8
This may be explained, in part, by the fact that parliament is currently considering anti-discrimination law
and thus, the sanction may have seemed irrelevant. It is remarkable, however, how it was not made an
issue of public concern by those in favor of a strong transposition of the directive. Additionally, the
sanction produced few public condemnations of Germany for not fighting racism (and those condemnations
that were made were mainly outside of Germany, coming from Brussels), something that one might expect
to be an important issue considering the German Nazi past.
Convention