Reforming the European Union Agency Governance: More Control, Greater Accountability

Agencification in the European Union has mainly proceeded without firm legal framework and horizontal measures, leading to the creation of numerous more or less independent specialised administrative organisations with diverse structure and functions. The EU institutional setting and the nature of EU regulation have represented the powerful engines of agencification. The existence of agencies had not been envisaged in the primary legislation before the Lisbon Treaty, while the more extensive data on agencies emerged only recently. The paper aims to analyse the elements of the EU agency governance and to highlight the direction of the recent reforms of EU agencies. The paper outlines the rationale and legal basis for agencies, presents a short overview of the development of agencification, and gives insight into recent agency reforms. The recent developments show the evolving construction of common norms and practices for agencies, which should enable more control and their greater accountability.