Soft Law and its Importance in Ensuring Member States' Compliance with Union Law

Soft law and its role in the enforcement of EU law: Apart from the Treaty infringement procedure there are more and more procedures, mostly laid down in secondary law, by which the EU often using soft law ensures Member States compliance with EU law. This development entails a considerable transforming power. It deserves not only a foundational, mainly competence-oriented analysis of EU soft law, but also a systemic and legal account of these procedures in which it is often EU agencies instead of the Commission and the European Court of Justice, as provided for in the TFEU which, largely beyond public attention, interpret EU law and, on this basis, try to enforce it vis-à-vis the Member States.