The Shaping of Infringement Procedures in European Union Law: The Rights and Safeguards of the Defendant Member State

The law on the rights and other safeguards available to the defendant Member State in infringement procedures under Articles 258 to 260 TFEU reflects the broader considerations of effective enforcement of EU law. In order to ensure that EU law is followed by the Member States, the EU Commission within its broad discretionary powers may employ different compliance strategies and conduct infringement procedures against the Member States accordingly. As a result, the rights and other safeguards determining the procedural position of the Member State concerned are interpreted to suit the needs of different infringement procedures in their different procedural phases. They perform different functions as dictated by the compliance strategy employed by the Commission and respond to more strategic considerations in the context of compliance in EU law.