EU Agencification? A New Framework for the Functioning of Decentralized Agencies of the European Union
EU Agencification? A New Framework for the Functioning of Decentralized Agencies of the European Union

Summary/Abstract: EU decentralized agencies multiplied over the years in response to new challenges and developing needs of the EC/EU. The process has been intensified since the 1990s as a result of creation of the internal market. However, this multiplication was so chaotic and uncoordinated that significant differences in the status and functioning principles of the agencies emerged. At the beginning of the 2000s, a need to create minimum standards common to all such entities became apparent. Activity initiated at that time led to the presentation by the European Commission in 2012 of the so-called Roadmap to regulate matters related to establishment, scope of activity and competences of EU decentralized agencies. In recent years, especially in English-language literature, the new term agencification is gaining popularity. This concept is used not only in the context of EU agencies, but has a wider application and refers to a quite common phenomenon of delegation of competences and regulatory powers by state institutions to specialized units formed for just such purpose. Similarities between the national and the EU level with regard to agencification do not only concern the process of establishing the agencies, but extend also to certain general principles in autonomization of such entities.

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