A fair deal of the scholarly attention has aimed to explain variation in the implementation of EU outputs. Most of the attention has concentrated on directives and ended up with nuanced conclusions as to the factors determining implementation or failure to implement. This points to the need to look at policy-specific models of explanation. After all, every policy is not as salient as any other across all member states. The present study delves into the implementation of the European fund for the integration of foreigners, a rather soft instrument, and intends to explain its outcomes by the discretion a member state enjoys in the pursuit of its own agenda. I posit that when there is little possibility for oversight from above government preferences are not contained by Commission but by public opinion and organised civil society. Empirical evidence is drawn from the application of quantitative methods to an original built dataset.
