Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the evolution of EU administration by focusing and critically examining the role of EU agencies in advancing the European integration project. The research question deals with identifying the factors that account for the formulation of EU agencies and the reasons behind their sharp increase in numbers since the 2000s. The tasks are to analyse critical EU agencies’ parameters such as their typology, the policy area they deal with, origin of their resources and funding, and their output. In addition, transparency and accountability issues accompanying the proliferation of EU agencies are also considered. Emphasis is placed on the evolution of the European administration as expressed by the establishment of various types of agencies since 1975 thereafter. Methodologically, the research utilizes quantitative data based on annual EU budgets as well as official reports and policy papers issued by main EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, European Court of Auditors) and agencies, analyzing them from a historical perspective. As a result, it is argued that the proliferation of EU agencies has advanced the process of European integration, namely the EU enlargement and expansion in new policy areas following successive reforms of the Treaties. However, concerns regarding accountability and transparency issues remain in place.
Highlights
The purpose of this study is to explore the evolution of European Union (EU) administration by focusing and critically examining the role of EU agencies in advancing the European integration project
The research utilizes quantitative data based on annual EU budgets as well as official reports and policy papers issued by main EU institutions (European Commission, European Parliament, European Court of Auditors) and agencies, analyzing them from a historical perspective
This flexibility signifies the potential loss of technical knowledge and expertise for an EU agency with the termination of the employment, since it is highly unlikely that temporary staff would share and diffuse its knowledge with other colleagues within the EU agency
Summary
The aim of this article is two-fold: a) first, to analyse the rationale behind the establishment of EU agencies and discuss the challenges that arise from accountability and transparency issues, b) second, to critically examine the role of EU agencies in facilitating the process of European integration. Certain organizational and functional dimensions of the ‘agencification trend’ at the EU level are examined by covering all types of existing EU agencies In this respect, the article explores the typology of EU agencies, the policy area they deal with, the origin of their resources and funding, and their final output. The considerable increase of the number of institutions at arm’s length from the EU core administration has challenged the capacity of the EU bureaucratic apparatus to be in full accordance with accountability and transparency criteria. In the same line of arguments, Egeberg and Trondal (2011, p. 882) find in their study that EU agencies “find
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