NON-COMPLIANCE AS PROCRASTINATION? Analysing how EU-member states live up to the Nuclear Waste Directive

Abstract: This thesis seeks to better understand how EU member states express motivations for not complying with EU law. Using the case of the Councils Directive 2011/70/Euratom, also known as the nuclear waste directive, this study analyzes member states' motivations for not complying with the requirements established in the directive, guided theoretically by the management and enforcement approaches. Existing research on compliance puts emphasis on the implementation and transposition process of EU directives, focusing on cross-country variations in quantitative studies. By contrast, this study considers policy-specific factors to analyze motivations. Using qualitative content analysis, this study analyzes the member states national nuclear waste programs and implementation reports. The result of the analysis uncovers that most member states find ways to procrastinate their obligations under the nuclear waste directive. The most salient motivation for not complying with all the requirements of the directive is expensive nuclear waste management solutions.