Regulation by networks in the European Community: The role of European agencies

The creation of European agencies is to be viewed as a response to the conflicting pressures to which the European Community is exposed in the post-1992 period. On the one hand, experience has demonstrated that legislative harmonization is not enough to dismantle internal barriers to trade, and that some convergence of administrative practices is necessary to level the playing field. On the other hand, the delegation of direct administrative responsibilities to Community institutions is politically inconceivable, and probably undesirable. Regulation by networks is the Community response to this paradox: by bringing together the various national administrations in charge of a given Community policy, one hopes to achieve the necessary degree of uniformity. European agencies are expected to act as network coordinators, rather than as central regulators. This explains the limited powers which they have been given, as well as the crucial part played by national representatives in their functioning.