The end of the year was their self-imposed deadline for finishing the building work.
The final deadline for submissions is 21 February.
Now that the deadline is approaching we all feel under pressure.
We haven't got a hope in hell of meeting such a tight deadline.
Clearly, country-level variation does not account for variation in the chances of member states transposing directives in any given week after the deadline.
However, the ambitious targets and deadlines seem to suggest that there is an expectation that problems will be put right very quickly, if not overnight.
Of the seven applicants who faced deadlines extending further into the future, six proceeded with the investment and only one resubmitted a modified proposal.
