engleski

Reforming the EU agency governance: more control, greater accountability

The agencification in the European Union, as in most of its member states, has mainly proceeded without firm legal framework and horizontal measures, leading to a creation of numerous more or less independent specialised administrative organisations with diverse structure and functions. The EU institutional setting, the relationship between the levels of governance, as well as the nature of the EU regulation represented powerful engines of agencification. Despite their importance for the EU governance, the existence of agencies was not envisaged nor recognised in the primary legislation before the Lisbon Treaty, while the more extensive data on agencies emerged only recently, due to the attempts to put agencies under more control. This descriptive paper aims to explore the elements of the EU agency governance and to highlight the drivers and the directions of the recent reforms of the EU agencies. The paper first outlines the rationale and legal basis for agencies, then presents a short overview of the development of agencification, and finally gives insight into recent agency reforms. The main argument of the paper is that although the agencies in the EU have been perceived as being diverse, due to the numerous agencies in different policies and with various tasks, the recent developments inspired by the political and economic reasons show that the construction of common norms and practices for agencies is taking place, aimed at more control and greater accountability of agencies. These developments might have influence on the agencification process and agency models in the member states.

European agencies ; agencification ; European governance

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