The TARN academic research network was founded in 2015 and received co-funding as Jean Monet Network by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union over the period from 2015 until 2018. In order to provide an overview of the most important findings of this period, in this blog post the TARN Statement on EU Agencies… » read more

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      by Katrijn Siderius and Miroslava Scholten EU agencies’ number and powers have grown tremendously in the recent years. Despite the so-called Meroni ‘non-delegation’ doctrine, EU agencies perform a wide range of tasks. They can contribute to or pass (soft) rules of general applications and impose sanctions for violation of EU laws vis-à-vis… » read more

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By Andreas Eriksen The study of the accountability of administrative agencies should enable us to assess whether agency decisions are appropriately scrutinized. In order for this to be possible, we need sense of what makes something into a genuine accountability practice—as opposed to merely a set of administrative hurdles that create an illusory sense of… » read more

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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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