The implementation of EU social policy: the 'Southern Problem' revisited.

This article analyses the implementation of EU social policy in the Southern European member states. When studied by implementation research, Portugal, Greece, Italy and Spain are often treated as a homogeneous group, and some authors speak of a particular 'Southern Problem' while others contest this. In this article, we will take issue with central explanatory frameworks of this literature - the existence of a high level of policy misfit, inefficient administrative and political systems, and weak non-state actors and civil societies in Southern Europe. We analyse the effects of these factors on the timeliness and correctness of implementation in the area of social policy. In a first step, we show that images of a homogenous 'Southern laggard group' are indeed inappropriate. In a second step, we present a new explanation of why the Southern countries are not as uniform as often supposed: they belong to different 'worlds of compliance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]