By Tobias Tesche Mind the compliance gap The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) has been plagued by chronic non-compliance and a lack of local ownership of the fiscal rules. To remedy this dysfunctional state of affairs a technocratic consensus has emerged between the European Commission, the ECB, the IMF and the OECD that fiscal councils… » read more

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By Ilaria Graceffa and Maia Ignatenko On 11-13 April, a TARN Workshop and Dialogue session took place in Brussels on the topic of ‘EU Agencies: Problem-Solving, Performance & the Accountability Overload: Squaring the Impossible Circle?’. Academics and practitioners participated in several panels to discuss a variety of current topics related to problem-solving, operability and accountability… » read more

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By Charikleia Vlachou   An institutional innovation in its conception Associating national parliaments to the democratic accountability of European agencies is not easy to conceptualize: the relationship between the two seems to be a primarily indirect one based on the control of national executives for the actions of national representatives in the Management Boards of… » read more

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By Sabrina Röttger-Wirtz Transparency is a persistently hot topic with regard to European Agencies. Especially the balance between granting access to documents and the protection of commercially confidential information, which might be contained in documents that third parties submit to Agencies in the context of administrative procedures, seems to be rather difficult to strike. As… » read more

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by Ixchel Pérez- Durán One of the most widespread notions about European Union agencies (EAs) is their nature as independent expert bodies. For this reason, it is important to analyze the relationship that the main decision-makers of such agencies have with politicians and stakeholders (e.g. business associations/firms, trade unions, civil society organizations). In this blog,… » read more

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By Marko Milenkovic   Decentralised agencies are now indispensable feature of executive governance in the European Union. There is hardly an area of EU engagement without an agency involved in delivering some of the Union’s activities. EU Agencies are constantly stepping up their external engagement and this role is attracting an increasing interest. However, a… » read more

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  By Emilia Korkea-aho and Päivi Leino In November 2017, after a great deal of political maneuvering, the EU Member States decided to extend authorization for glyphosate, the world’s best-selling herbicide, for a period of five years. Eighteen Member States voted in favour of the extension, nine voted against and one abstained. The decision came… » read more

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By Florin Coman-Kund   Since the establishment of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the fine-tuning of the functioning of the EU aviation safety sector and the expansion of the Agency’s mandate ranked high on the EU legislative agenda. This resulted in the replacement of the initial EASA Founding Act with Regulation 216/2008 (the current… » read more

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        By Vittoria Meissner In January 2017, the recently reformed European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG) Frontex started a pool of return experts, in order to support and expedite the return of migrants. The establishment of the pool is part of the larger reform that in October 2016 officially transformed the… » read more

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Whistleblowers provide a critical checking function in ensuring accountability, fighting corruption and protecting the public interest as they have direct access to valuable information and insights of their organisations. This role is widely recognized by EU institutions and discussions are ongoing for possible EU wide legislation on whistleblower protection. This blog examines whether EU agencies… » read more

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